Super Religare Laboratories (SRL), India's largest network of diagnostic labs, has received an approval from the Government of Maharashtra to carry out testing for H1N1 - swine flu all over Maharashtra. The state government authorities appreciated and cleared the main Mumbai facility of SRL for all bio-safety norms and technological capability of carrying out the tests exactly as per the stringent standards laid down by World Health Organization and Communicable Disease Centre, Atlanta - USA.

Though the actual test would be carried out in SRL's Mumbai facility but all other networked labs in Maharashtra and doctor owned collection centres in its network would be commissioned for sample collection as per the approved guidelines. SRL, meanwhile in NCR has already performed over 2000 H1N1 - swine flu tests for nodal laboratories of the Government of India including the NICD (National Institute of Communicable Diseases) and ICMR, after its facilities were inspected and cleared by Govt of India.

SRL has announced that it would be carrying out the H1N1 screening test for Rs 4500 and speaking on the occasion, Dr Sanjeev Chaudhry, CEO, SRL, said, "In accordance with our corporate and business philosophy, we have priced the test at a non-exploitative price point of Rs 4500 for the public so as to enable doctors and their patients to afford the test, if advised. While other approved private labs had announced a price of Rs 9000, we thought it best to augment the excellent work being done by State authorities in combating and containing Swine Flu Pandemic in Maharashtra and Western India, with our affordable pricing."

"In fact, we have been getting calls from numerous Maharashtra based Hospitals and Nursing Homes to test the samples which have been collected by them and to help them clear off the load we are planning a suitable collection infrastructure. Like in Delhi where we have placed mobile vans for sample collection, our intent here is to place a similar collection infrastructure in Mumbai and Pune. This would certainly help reduce the anxiety and fear associated with this Influenza virus in the minds of people and would reduce the traffic-load at healthcare facilities. The customers in Mumbai and Pune could then call up our helpline and fix up the appointed time at which our team would be there to collect the sample - and at no extra cost. Other state governments have much appreciated this effort of ours," added Dr Chaudhry.