Narendra Modi has swine flu, isolated for a week

GANDHINAGAR - Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is suffering from swine flu, doctors said Friday, two days after his return from Russia. He has been quarantined for a week and officials, businessmen and others who have interacted with him recently have been advised medical caution.

The 60-year-old Modi’s sample was found positive at the government civil hospital in Ahmedabad, doctor Atul Patel said Friday morning.

The chief minister, who returned from his four-day visit to Russia Wednesday, had worked through Thursday, attending his official engagements despite feeling tired and coughing frequently.

But on Friday, the doctors confirmed that he has contracted the H1N1 virus. Modi has a team of doctors attending on him at his official residence and all his appointments have been cancelled.

Gujarat has so far seen 40 swine flu deaths and over 270 cases.

The media initially sniffed something wrong when tests for swine flu were carried out and a “VIP” sample dispatched post haste for tests from here to Ahmedabad.

Attempts for confirmation continued well past Thursday midnight but Modi’s personal staff as well as official sources continued to stonewall all such efforts before confirming the news Friday morning.

The entire staff of the chief minister’s office, members of the state cabinet and those in the secretariat who may have interacted with him after his Russia visit are being put through the mandatory medical drill for swine flu.

“An advisory has been issued to the ministers of the state cabinet to reduce their interaction with the public for sometime and even when it becomes absolutely essential, to do so keeping a distance,” an official source said requesting anonymity.

“The same stands true for all the government officials and even members of the delegation that accompanied him. All of them are being administered Tamiflu,” the source said.

The chief minister had gone to Russia at the head of a business delegation to attend the fourth International Energy Week at the World Trade Centre in Moscow. He interacted with over 60 leading lights from various oil and gas majors.

Accompanying him in the delegation were top names like Sudhir Mehta, chairman, Torrent Group; Pranav Adani, MD, Adani Wilmar Group; Nitin Shukla, CEO, Shell Hazira; Hari Bhartiya of Jubilant; Nikhil Merchant, chairman, Swan Group; Jayesh Buch, executive director of Essar Group; D. Rajgopalan, chief secretary of Gujarat; S. Jagadeeshan, principal secretary, energy and petrochemicals; and D.J. Pandian, managing director, Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation.

Government doctors are not hazarding a guess on whether the chief minister contracted the virus within the state or during his Russia visit. “Usually it takes about a week before the first signs of swine flu become visible but this is not a cast iron norm,” the source said.

After he returned from Russia, those who interacted with him noticed symptoms of cold coupled with incessant coughing. “He looked tired and under the weather to some extent, but then this was to be expected given the hectic nature of his schedule and cross-continent travel that it involved,” said a minister.

Modi was slated to attend 11 programmes Saturday, but these have been cancelled.

Bharatiya Janata Party cadres and his well wishers are praying for his recovery. The party office has been flooded with enquiries and local news channels are swamped with ‘get well’ messages.