New Delhi, June 11 : A 35-year-old man, who refused to get himself admitted to a hospital despite testing positive for swine flu, has passed on the deadly virus to his mother.
Delhi health officials said they repeatedly requested the patient to come to the hospital, but the family refused. Following this, he was kept in an isolated area in his residence at Rajokri farmhouse near Palam international airport.
"The patient is at his residence. We made so many requests to the family as well as the patient to get him admitted to the RML hospital, but they refused," M Lal, chief of the Directorate of Health Services Delhi Government said.
The lapse probably led to the patient's mother also catching the swine flu virus. The person has recently returned from New York.
"The family is rich and there is no law which can be used to make the patient come to a hospital," Lal said.
While Delhi has had two positive cases of swine flu, the total number of cases in the country has risen to 11.
Third case in Delhi
Delhi today got its third case of swine flu with a person who has returned from Boston recently testing positive for the virus.
The result for the latest case was positive, NICD Director Shivlal said.
The test results are awaited for five other persons who have reported swine flu symptoms-- two in Mumbai and three in Delhi, a senior Health Ministry official said.
All of them have been placed in isolation wards at designated health facilities, he added.
The family or social contacts of those found positive for the disease in Delhi and Hyderabad are on Tamiflu drug and they are being monitored. As of now, no family of social contacts has reported symptoms.