Kalyan Singh suffers swine flu scare, cleared

JAIPUR: Rajasthan governor Kalyan Singh tested positive for the H1N1 virus, popularly referred to as swine flu, and then negative in a subsequent test in the national capital.

JAIPUR: Rajasthan governor Kalyan Singh tested positive for the H1N1 virus, popularly referred to as swine flu, and then negative in a subsequent test in the national capital, bring ing the focus back on the dreaded virus.

After uproar in the assembly and a nudge from Raj Bhawan, the state government formed a three-member committee to find how a state government hospital tested Singh positive for the flu.

A report from the Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Medical College on Sunday showed that governor Kalyan Singh had tested positive for H1N1 while a report by Indrapastha Apollo Hospitals in Delhi gave a negative result.

Rajasthan is the worst-hit state in India, accounting for 83% of total H1N1 cases and 86 deaths till February 18, according to the Union ministry of Health and Family Welfare, which collates national data. Jaipur has confirmed 698 cases and 30 deaths over the past two months .

The opposition raised the issue in assembly on Monday, forcing health minister Kalicharan Saraf to announce the setting up of the committee. He said the panel comprising Dr US Agarwal SMS medical college principal, medical education secretary Dr Anand Sharma and head of Microbiology department at SMS Hospital, Dr RC Maheshwari, will give its report in three days.

Sharma said the panel would check which doctors took the samples of the governor, how many samples were tested. “We will take statements of the treating doctors and also get the Apollo hospital reports. We will study all this and submit our report.” After reports of the governor contracting swine flu, chief minister Vasundhara Raje too spoke to Singh and conveyed her best wishes for his quick recovery. Earlier, BJP MLA Amrita Meghwal was declared H1N1-positive by the Assembly’s clinic when she was attending the session.

Ten other members, who were sitting near her, were also screened. However, their tests were found negative. Last year, the disease had claimed the lives of BJP MLA Kirti Kumari and vicechairman of 20-point programme Digamber Singh. The governor secretariat expressed its dismay and in a statement said it had taken serious note of the investigation report submitted by SMS Hospital and asked for a highlevel inquiry to probe in what circumstances the hospital had given a swine flu positive report. It said the governor was suffering from cold and cough and SMS hospital doctors took samples for testing on Sunday.

The SMS hospital report showed that Singh was low positive. Singh was then flown to Delhi by a special plane on Sunday night and was taken to Apollo Hospital where his swine flu report was found to be negative and he was discharged, officials in governor’s house said.

Dr US Agarwal, Principal, medical college, said that they had taken 10 samples of which 8 had come negative and two were positive. He said the reports showed low positive.

Dr Agarwal said the samples were tested again on Monday morning and showed low positive.