H1N1 tests begin at Ahmedabad civil hospital

The special laboratory set up by the state government at BJ Medical College has started conducting H1N1 (swine flu) tests. “We have begun conducting the testing in the new lab,” said Ravi Saxena, health secretary, on Friday.

About the safety standards at the lab, Saxena said proper caution are taken for the safety of the test samples and the procedure to enter the laboratory has been made very strict.

“Only licensed doctors are allowed to enter the lab as they have been specially trained to handle the cases  ,” said a highly-placed source in health department.

For swine flu testing, the state has been provided kits by the World Health Organisation .   

Meanwhile, a nurse and two others, who had travelled to Ahmedabad from Kuwait and were kept in the Civil hospital's isolation ward, have tested negative. In the remaining three suspected cases at SSG Hospital, Vadodara and one at Surat the samples were sent to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), Delhi as the city laboratory had not started functioning.