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Abu Dhabi: The government has ordered private clinics and hospitals to give patients testing positive for the H1N1 virus a leave certificate for one week as well as a medical report.
Dr Ali Ahmad Bin Shakar, Director General of the Ministry of Health and Chairman of the National Committee to Combat Swine Flu, said: "The ministry and the committee gave orders to private hospitals and clinics to give patients with the H1N1 virus leave permission free of charge [a free certificate]."
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He added: "They [hospitals and clinics] are obliged to issue a medical report and a leave certificate which recommends that the patient should stay at home for at least one week."
Bin Shakar urged private sector companies to follow the instructions and give the patients a certificate stipulating one week leave.
"The Ministry is investigating some violations through a special committee. We have learned that some companies and sponsors in the private sector have refused to give the H1N1 patients one week leave [certificates]," he said.
Bin Shakar said the ministry will punish any clinic or hospital that refuse to give patients the certificate for leave.
Yesterday, Gulf News reported the case of Irshad Nazir Ahmad Dawre, who claims he was not provided with a certificate after being verbally informed at the NMC Speciality Hospital that he had contracted H1N1.
Dawre therefore returned to work in a call centre, which has at least 80 other employees.
Marwan Al Mazroui, executive director of NMC Group, said the lab tests are not done at their hospital, but at Rashid Hospital.
"We just receive an Excel sheet of all the names of suspected cases, their phone numbers and whether it was tested positive or negative," he said.
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