Hyderabad: A 55 year old male patient from Yakutpura died due to H1N1 in a private hospital taking the toll to 26 deaths in Telangana. The patient died on January 24 but his blood samples tested positive only on January 25.

A senior health officer said, “He was not given the H1N1 treatment at all. Either the blood samples were taken late or the Institute of Preventive Medicine had not tested the sample on the day it was sent.”

Of late, there have been complaints that due to the increasing number of samples coming to IPM both in the morning and evening, some samples are being left out and their testing is being done after a day.

The deceased patient’s 50-year-old wife has also been admitted in the same hospital and is undergoing treatment. Her blood sample reports are awaited and before that the H1N1 treatment cannot be started.

Meanwhile, a 44-year old group captain from Dundigal has been confirmed with H1N1 and is undergoing treatment at Air Force hospital.

The officer is said to be recovering. Despite the number of cases increasing, the director of Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences Dr L. Narendranath stated that H1N1 was under control.

New health minister C. Laxma Reddy visited Gandhi Hospital and interacted with the patients in the swine flu ward. The minister was upset with the unhygienic conditions in the toilets and also the cleanliness aspect in the wards.

According to a doctor, “He wanted the hospital to maintain high standards of cleanliness like those in corporate hospitals.”