CHENNAI: Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday said that all the 12 private labs authorised by the government to conduct swine flu tests, were strictly told not to collect any extra charges from the patients apart from Rs 3,000 fixed for the same. Intervening the discussion on the special mention on swine flu in the State Assembly, the CM said members of the House had wanted the government to conduct the swine flu test free of cost as the poor would not be able to afford it. But, the fact was that the test had already been done free of cost in many places including King’s Institute in Guindy and Government Medical College Hospitals in Coimbatore, Madurai and Tirunelveli.Later, replying to the discussion, Health Minister V S Vijay said swine flu has been kept under check in the State thanks to the swift action taken by the government and there was no need for people to panic. Quoting World Health Organisation (WHO), he said swine flu had become a seasonal ‘flu now from being a pandemic in 2009 when it started spreading in many countries. He said so far 33 people have been affected by swine flu in the State till April 9 and the H1N1 virus had claimed the life of a 75-year-old man at Tiruppur. He died due to complications of old age and delay in providing treatment, he added.Stating that sufficient number of medicines was available in TN, the minister said, in the first phase, 25,000 doses has been received from the Centre. On instructions from the CM, the vaccine would be purchased for `55 lakh.
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