Gujarat has a low survival rate of swine flu patients as compared to other states.
The sudden surge in the number of swine flu cases across the country seems to be posing a serious challenge to health authorities. In Gujarat alone, 62 people have died since January 1, with almost 500 cases reported during this period.
Amongst the several patients undergoing treatment at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital is a 12-year-old boy. His grandmother, Alifa Begum, is worried not just about her grandson's health, but also the growing number of swine flu cases in her home district, Kutch.
In Gujarat, Kutch and Ahmedabad are the worst-affected, with almost 70 per cent of the cases reported from there.
"We had taken him to government hospital in Rajkot but we were not satisfied with the facilities there so we shifted him to Ahmedabad," she Alifa Begum.
Across the nation, the deadly H1N1 virus has claimed over 200 lives since the beginning of this year. Rajasthan is the worst-affected with 72 deaths, followed by Gujarat. 41 swine flu patients have died in Telangana.
A major concern for the health authorities in Gujarat is the low survival rate of swine flu patients compared to other states like Rajasthan and Maharashtra.
But health authorities believe that a significant number of fatalities were on account of delayed reporting of cases.
"In the initial cases we have found that there were delays in admission to hospitals... the patient had developed extensive pneumonia or respiratory infections by the time they were brought in... it is difficult to save the patient... But now with enhanced publicity we are able to get patients report timely and administer them medicines like Tamiflu," said Dr P Ravindran, DG Emergency Health services, Union health ministry.
He along with officials from the health ministry carried out an intensive tour of the affected districts in the last three days.
Meanwhile, the Gujarat government is planning to set up three more specialised laboratories for testing swine flu cases apart from existing four to cope up with increasing number of cases.