Chennai, Aug 21 (IANS) A 47-year-old Chennai resident - who ran away from a government hospital with swine flu symptoms but was readmitted later - died Thursday night, becoming the second victim of the H1N1 virus here, hospital officials said.
“Francis was first admitted to the hospital with swine flu symptoms Aug 13. He went away without informing us after we took the throat swab and blood sample,” Mohana Sundaram, dean of the Government General Hospital, told reporters Friday.

When the test results came out positive, the hospital alerted the public health department which in turn located Francis at a private hospital here.

But Francis’ condition turned worse, with pneumonia setting in. He had reportedly not informed doctors at the private hospital that he had taken Tamiflu tablets.

According to Sundaram, the patient was brought back to the Government General Hospital Aug 19 and was put on Tamiflu once again but died Thursday night.

Francis is the second victim of swine flu in Tamil Nadu this month after four-year-old Sanjay Balakrishnan died in a city hospital.

Meanwhile, three people who flew in here from abroad have been admitted into the Communicable Diseases Hospital here with swine flu symptoms. While one is a Sri Lankan national, the other two are locals who had returned from Singapore and Dubai.

Friday morning Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said swine flu had claimed 36 lives in the country so far.