More laboratories to check for swine flu

New Delhi, June 8 (ANI): Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said here on Monday that the government has decided to activate 16 more laboratories across the country to test for the swine flu virus in addition to the two in New Delhi and Pune.

"The health ministry already has the labs, but they are for testing different diseases. They would be prepared for H1N1 flu also and the lab technicians and doctors would be trained within a week," Ghulam Nabi Azad said.

The Health Minister also highlighted the need for state level rapid action forces medical personnel to tackle the viral ailment.

"Creating more teams is not enough as we shall have to train them. So we have decided at the national level we have about 25 doctors who are trained in this type of particular diseases and would in turn train the state-level teams," Azad added.

The doctors for the state teams would be trained in a month's time and in addition to it government has 10 lakh capsules of Oseltamivir in storage to treat affected patients and to prevent any major glitch.

Azad was indicated that he was satisfied with the arrangements made by state governments to handle passengers coming in from the affected countries.

"So far around 15 lakh passengers have come to India from the flu-affected countries. It is not humanly possible to screen all of them. So we are focusing on people who have declared any symptom of the disease," he said.

"We are also tracking down all the co-passengers of those who have tested positive and are testing them for the virus," Azad added. (ANI)