Hyderabad, June 16: The state medical and health department on Monday set up a toll free information centre for H1N1 influenza (swine flu) to provide
information on the disease, medication and treatment.
This facility was launched by state health minister D Nagender who claimed that this was the first of its kind in the country. The toll free helpline could be accessed by dialling 12506 from any BSNL telephone in the state. The contact numbers of swine flu management facilities in the state can also be reached by using SMS. People can send an SMS by typing “H1N1HYD” to 55352 to receive the contact numbers.
Speaking to newsmen here, the minister said the interactive voice response system would provide information in Hindi, English and Telugu. The facility would be available in Tamil, Kannada and other regional languages in a week.
He said that so far 12 samples of the 62 sent to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) in New Delhi turned positive. He said the number of beds to provide treatment to swine flu victims was increased to 100 in the hospitals in Hyderabad.
—Agencies–