Telangana to get machines that can detect H1N1 in an hour: Chief secretary

HYDERABAD: Telangana chief secretary Somesh Kumar on Saturday informed the high court that the state had brought in new testing machines to ascertain whether a person has swine flu. The TrueNAT-H1N1 is a chip-based machine which employs real-time micro polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing for H1N1 and gives the results in one hour. The machines are due to arrive in the first week of March accroding to the chief secretary.
“Testing equipment will be installed in government hospitals at King Koti and Barkas in Hyderabad. Similarly, various district hospitals and community centres all over the state will also be equipped with these machines,” the chief secretary said in his report to the court.
Earlier, a bench headed by Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan, while hearing petitions by Dr Karuna and advocate Rapolu Bhaskar, had sought a report from the chief secretary on how how the state was acting to arrest the spread of viral diseases. The report came as a result of this petitions.
“Asifabad, Karimnagar, Khammam, Nagarkurnool, Gadwal, Wanaparthy, Bhongir, Kamareddy, Rangareddy, Medchal, Sangareddy and Peddapalli hospitals which will get these test machines will be able to test people with symptoms of swine flu and ascertain whether they were affected with the virus,” the chief secretary said in his report to the bench.
The official also mentioned that they tested 253 samples in government hospitals out of which 26 samples tested positive for swine flu. “Of the 1,200 samples tested in private hospitals, 161 proved positive,” the report said. The chief secretary also said that isolation wards will be set up in Hyderabad’s government TB and Chest hospitals to treat swine flu patients. “Apart from sensitising government doctors and paramedical staff all over the state, we have also involved the private sector in the fight against virus,” the chief secretary said.
The bench acknowledged the efforts of the state in maintaining vigilance and dealing with them in an effective manner. “In addition to this, they have also undertaken a massive public awareness campaign asking people to do their bit and act as responsible citizens,” the bench said.