HYDERABAD: A 58- year-old woman suffering from sin flu died at the state-run Gandhi hospital on Wednesday.
Laxmi, a resident of Saroornagar in the city, was admitted to a private hospital in Madhapur on January 14 for treatment but later shifted to Gandhi Hospital to undergo treatment but Laxmi was in a critical condition and the doctors did not get enough time to stabilize her condition.
A senior health official at Gandhi Hospital complained that. “Due to lack of any regulatory mechanism, some of the private hospitals treating swine flu patients are referring them to Gandhi Hospital only at the last stage.”
It is the third swine flu-related death in the city since January 1. The first swine flu-related death was at Nawab Saheb Kunta and another was from Yadadri district.
According to the sources, the prevailing cold wave condition has shot up the number of H1N1 positive cases to 50 since January 1. The Institute of Preventive Medicine (IPM) has tested the swab samples of 370 people in the last 17 days.
Most of the patients could not afford the medium and large-scale corporate hospitals as they charge between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh for a single day ventilator support.
Rajeshwar Tiwari, principal secretary (health), Telangana released a health bulletin on Wednesday, which advised the citizens to take precautions such as reporting to the hospital at the very first signs such as like high fever, sneezing, cough and body pains.