Hyderabad: Three persons died of swine flu in the city on Wednesday morning. The victims were a pregnant 25-year-old woman from Shapurnagar who contracted the virus and died of the flu due to her delicate condition, a 44-year-old man from Siddipet and a 42-year-old man from Medak district.

Both the men, who died early on Wednesday morning, were being treated in private hospitals. The two male victims became terminally ill at private hospitals and were then referred to the Gandhi Hospital. A senior doctor explained, “We had the patient only for six hours in our hospital.”

Relatives of the patient from Siddipet were angry as the patient was not admitted by the Gandhi Hospital, as there was no ventilator. They staged a dharna outside the hospital and refused to leave. They also registered a complaint stating that the night duty staff at the hospital did not admit the patient and he died without treatment.

Dr K. Narsimulu of Gandhi Hospital said, “The H1N1 virus requires proper treatment. If the patient has got severe cough, cold and high fever, than it is very important to get the H1N1 test done early. In both these cases, treatment was delayed.”