After the country registered its first swine flu death,Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday blamed late diagnosis for the incident and said his ministry would soon issue fresh guidelines to contain spread of the disease. In Pune,family members of the 14-year-old victim said they would sue for negligence the private hospital where she was admitted. Azad,who chaired a high-level review meeting,said the ministry would issue fresh guidelines to states to contain the spread of the disease. "For the past 3-4 days we were in the process of formulating fresh guidelines to deal with the issue. Some changes have been made in the existing guidelines," the minister told reporters here. The family of 14-year old Rida Shaikh,who succumbed to the disease yesterday said,they would sue the private hospital where the girl was admitted. "The family wants that such a situation should not arise with anybody in future. We will sue the hospital for huge sums which would be used for charity," a family member said. "Initially,some antibiotics were given. She recovered and she was fine but fell sick again," he said. In New Delhi,Azad said the death occurred as "the patient was tested late". Meanwhile,the Maharashtra Government invoked the Epidemic Act in Pune and Satara districts to deal with the disease. Invoking the Act enables the state government to forcibly put swine flu patients under quarantine in government hospitals. Azad said,"We have been alert to the threat and we have screened in the last two and a half months some 42 lakh patients at the airports coming in from different parts of the world." "Out of the total 558 tested positive so far,470 have already been treated and discharged. It means the medicine is working 100 per cent," he added. "The only death reported in Pune yesterday happened because the victim was tested late for the disease. She went to private practitioners and was treated for normal flu till her condition deteriorated and her lungs were reportedly damaged," the health minister said. Asking people not to panic,Azad said,"It is monsoon season and crores of people catch common cold and cough. That does not mean all of them should go for a test because one single test costs the government Rs 10,000 as the material and inputs required are produced only in America".
