'Timely tests would have saved Shravani'

Family of 29-year-old swine flu victim says delay in detecting the infection proved fatalu00a0

Twenty-nine-year-old Shravani Deshpande's family in Sinhgad remains clueless about how she caught the swine flu infection that caused her death at the Sassoon Hospital yesterday. Shravani, a homemaker, rarely left her house except to drop and pick up her six-year-old daughter from school, and to buy groceries. Shravani's grieving father-in-law, Hemant Deshpande, said she would have lived if her reports been available earlier.

"Precious time was lost due to the delay in detecting the cause of her illness," said Hemant.

Shravani, a resident of Sundar Garden in Manik Bag, had flu-like symptoms, for which she was being treated by a doctor in the neighbourhood. "As there was no improvement in her condition, the doctors asked her family to admit her to Shashwat Nursing Home, where antibiotics were administered to her. She had difficulty in breathing, so, on Sunday, she was put on a ventilator and subsequently shifted to Sassoon Hospital later that day," he added.

Samples
"We have no grievance against the way she was treated, but her samples were taken on Saturday and the reports were only made available by Monday afternoon, whichu00a0 is when we first learnt that she had tested positive for H1N1. Had private hospitals been allowed to send the samples directly to the NIV, the delay would not have occurred," he added.