Health Ministry to issue new Swine Flu guidelines

New Delhi, Aug 4: After India witnessed the first Swine flu death, the Health Ministry said that it will hold a high-level meeting on Tuesday, Aug 4 to issue new guidelines to private hospitals in handling Swine flu patients.

Sources said that the meeting would be chaired by Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, would be attended by health secretary Naresh Dayal, secretary health research VN Katoch and DGHS RK Srivastva.

Sources also said that the Minister had asked the DGHS (Directorate General of Health Services) to prepare a fresh set of guidelines for dealing with Swine flu across the country.

Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "It is a deterrent when a person develops symptoms of flu it is compulsory that he be hospitalised and isolated. Most people don't like that. We have had talks with experts and doctors and are going to issue new guidelines on Tuesday, Aug 4 which say that it is not necessary to isolate a person at the first instance.

"There should be tests conducted and if the person tests positive for H1N1 virus then it can be decided if he needs to be hospitalised or put under medication. This will be a relief to people," he added.

The new guidelines will also allow certain private hospitals to collect samples from suspected H1N1 virus patients and send them for laboratory tests.

OneIndia News