State proposes H1N1 testing rights for private lab at Andheri

The state government has forwarded the application of Super Religare Laboratory to the Centre,which will grant the final approval. “The company has fulfilled the requirements for testing and our inspecting teams have approved it. The laboratory can start its operations as soon as we get approval from the central government,” said Sharvaree Gokhale,additional chief secretary,health.

The laboratory officials said they could test 100 samples a day in Mumbai and another 1,000 at their Gurgaon facility. They can also conduct RNA sampling for 500 samples in Mumbai. The bio-safety level-3 laboratory has a strength of 350,of whom 50 can be deployed exclusively for swine flu testing.

“We are hoping for a decision by tonight. We have already started functioning in Gurgaon and we can start operations in Mumbai as well,” said Sanjeev Chaudhary,chief executive of the laboratory.

Chaudhary said the samples could be collected directly from hospitals with which they already have a tie-up while they had started picking up samples from clients’ homes in Delhi. The Delhi government has permitted four private laboratories to conduct swine flu tests.

H1N1 OUTBREAK UPDATE
Mumbai
An H1N1 patient who delivered a stillborn child last week was shifted to Bombay Hospital on Thursday from Kasturba Hospital,where she was on a ventilator. Mumbai has had 9 H1N1 deaths

Maharashtra
The state toll is 47,with 25 deaths in Pune,7 in Nashik,2 in Latur and 1 each in Aurangabad,Dhule,Beed and Jalna,apart from the 9 in Mumbai