Pune panic: Parents rush for H1N1 tests

Doctors at Pune's Naidu Hospital for Infectious Diseases are trying to calm anxious parents like Kiran Bajaj who want to get their children tested for swine flu.

It's the immediate reaction to the death of 14 year old Reeda Sheikh.

Says Kiran Bajaj: "My daughter's fever is not going and doctors outside are sending us here. Here they are refusing to give it in writing that she does not have swine flu."

Another parent, Mrs Davidson, says: "Till now everyone thought rest was enough. Now we know we need to take Tamiflu and its only available here."

Seeing the rush of parents in the hospital, the police had to be called in to control the situation. The government is adding to the number of doctors here -- seven more. Also seven more nurses will be added. Fifteen additional staff will be added to the testing center.

Since Monday nearly 1200 people have come to the hospital for testing, of whom just 150 actually needed to be tested. Of those 150, 15 samples of suspected cases have been sent to the NIV.

Says Pune Municipal Commissioner Mahesh Zhagade: "It is a humble request to parents and private practitioners not to refer all the cases to Naidu Hospital. But at the same time we are planning to increase number of centres to tackle this rush."

The appeal is also going out to school principles, asking them to turn their staff into primary watchdogs for the disease.

While the government attempts to calm nerves, with more suspected cases of the swine flu surfacing each day health authorities and parents in Pune will continue to be on the edge at least for now.