Spelling out the requirements, she said treatment centres must have separate entry/exit, no central airconditioning, a distance of at least six feet between two beds, ventilators (for the patients), separate bathrooms, separate doctors' changing rooms, trained paramedical and support staff, and separate bio-waste disposal facilities, among other conditions.

Some hospitals have said that with a few modifications, they would be able to comply with these requirements.

A few private pharmaceutical companies have also come forward to offer their laboratories for testing the swine flu samples. Among them are Ranbaxy and Metropolis.

Currently, there are only two government testing facilities, one at the NIV Pune and a new one, Haffkine in Mumbai, which are heavily overloaded in view of the high number of cases.

A decision on the issue will be taken by the central government since the testing comes under its purview, Gokhale said.

So far, 42,816 patients have been screened for swine flu across the state of which 484, including 323 in Pune, have been detected positive.

Currently, 77 patients continue to be in hospitals in Mumbai, Pune and Satara. Of these four are critical in Pune and two in Mumbai.

Pune has 42 screening centres while Mumbai has six with more on cards shortly.