With number of suspected swine flu patients on the rise, Orissa government today said it was seriously contemplating setting up a swab-testing laboratory.

With admission of four more patients at the quarantine ward at SCB medical college hospital in Cuttack today, the total number of patients with swine flu symptoms in Orissa increased to 11, official sources said.

While a suspected H1N1 virus carrying patient was admitted at MKCG medical college hospital, others were at SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack.

Meanwhile, a girl student of a city-based engineering college, was rushed to Capital Hospital here with symptoms of swine flu. The girl, however, was detected to be suffering from cold and normal flu, doctors said.

“As the patients in Orissa have to wait for about 72 hours to know about the status of their infection, the state government would like to set up its own unit here,” state health and family welfare minister Prasanna Acharya said after visiting the hospital.

He said it was “unfortunate” that the Centre did not sanction a swine-flu testing laboratory for Orissa even as 17 such facilities would be installed across the country.

However, none of the patients in Orissa had tested positive to the deadly H1N1 virus so far, he said.