In Reeda's case that happened. Doctors didn't know that she was suffering from swine flu and delayed treatment killed her. The treatment was delayed because of the wrong test results,' Guleria added.

Like Singh, there are others who are going for the simple influenza test to avoid testing in state-run government hospitals because of crowds.

'A friend of mine also told me that she went for a similar test. Her doctor had told her that if she doesn't want to go to a government hospital then she could do this test, which would highlight whether she needs to go for an H1N1 test. And if it does show strains of swine flu, then they could go for the H1N1 test,' Singh said.

S. Chaterjee, a senior consultant at the internal medicine department of Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, said: 'Influenza A (common flu) and Influenza A (H1N1) are two separate viruses although they belong to the group.'

'There are two different tests for checking seasonal flu and swine flu and it is dangerous if doctors are testing common flu and assuring patients that they don't have swine flu,' he said.

According to V.M. Katoch, secretary in the department of health research, told IANS: 'India's first swine flu death is a victim of such wrong testing,' he told IANS.