An it professional, down with a bad cold, left her office at Vikhroli on Thursday and rushed to Kasturba Hospital to get herself tested for swine flu, only to find the screening centre shut.

The centre, the city’s only one equipped to screen for H1N1 shuts everyday at 5 pm, though the hospital admits suspected cases round the clock. Hundreds have rushed there since a Pune schoolgirl died of swine flu.

“We came once in the morning but were asked to come back at noon. My daughter could not miss office, so we came in the evening instead. But the authorities said the screening centre was shut,” said the IT professional’s mother.

“The screening centre functions from 10 to 5. Patients requiring immediate admission will be taken in; the rest are being asked to come back the next day,” said Dr Umesh Aigal, medical superintendent of the hospital. Deputy medical superintendent Ravi Kadam added: “In the last two days, 541 people have been screened at the hospital.”

The IT professional had been to Chennai and Bangalore last month and has had a cold and a cough for two days. Her family physician had referred her to Kasturba Hospital.

Many others returned home without tests. Among them was nine-year-old Devansh Bhatt of Dubai, who is visiting relatives in India. She had recently been to Rajasthan and, like the techie, has a cold and cough. “We travelled all the way from Thane only to find the centre shut,” said a relative.

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