Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 4: Eighteen new cases of swine flu surfaced today taking the total number of people affected by H1N1 virus to 46 in Jammu region, where three persons have died so far due to the disease.
“The Health department today received 48 reports from New Delhi out of which 18 were found to be positive for H1N1 while others were negative,” Director Health Jammu, BS Pathania said, adding with this, the number of H1N1 virus patients has surged to 46 in the region while the disease so far has claimed lives of three persons.
He said while the department today sent 13 more samples to NCDC Delhi, reports of 64 samples already sent to Delhi are still pending.
Meanwhile, Minister for Health and Medical Education, Choudhary Lal Singh during his visit to Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Jammu, said that a full-fledged testing laboratory would be established in GMCH for conducting H1N1 tests. He said that Government has released Rs six crore in this regard.
The Minister also said that reformative measures would be initiated to upgrade healthcare facilities across the State and due care would be given to upgrade different diagnostic facilities in the hospitals for providing better healthcare to the people.