Tamil Nadu to have online registry for H1N1

CHENNAI: The state health department will soon set up an 'active H1N1 online registry' networking hospitals, laboratories and the Directorate of Public Health (DPH). The registry will ensure all cases and deaths are updated online every day without compromising on patient confidentiality, health secretary VK Subburaj said on Thursday.

TOI had reported on Thursday how the health authorities were not showing H1N1 deaths in the city. Three women had died of the infection between August 11 and 29 in city hospitals, an investigation by TOI had found. "There seems to have been some problems in our report consolidation. We will hold a meeting with all private hospitals next week to discuss this. We will make sure that H1N1 positive cases and deaths are updated every day and patients are tracked," Subburaj said.

Meanwhile, director of public health Dr RT Porkai Pandiyan said an inquiry had been initiated into why the three H1N1 deaths in the city were not reported to the DPH. "We are expecting a report from the Chennai Corporation health officer," he said. Meanwhile, the DPH would ensure that all private and government hospitals are sensitized about reporting such cases. "It is a violation of the Public Health Act if they do not report deaths of notifiable diseases. Our intention is not to punish hospitals, but to rope them in for better networking ," Dr Pandiyan said.