Azad sorry for Rida remark

Health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today apologised to country’s first swine flu victim Reeda Shaikh’s family for his remarks. Upset with the remarks of Azad, the family of 14-year-old Reeda Shaikh had earlier demanded that he either apologise or resign for saying that Reeda could have spread the disease to 80 others while changing hospitals during treatment. Graphic|What's H1N1? | Special

Health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad apologised to the mother of Rida Sheikh, the country’s first swine flu casualty, after her family slammed his remarks that the 14-year-old girl may have passed on the infection to around 85 people, before she died.

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“I am sorry if her mother misunderstood my statement,” he said. “I never intended to hurt Shaikh family in any way. I never meant to say the Rida spread H1N1 infection in Pune.”

His apology followed an angry reaction from the Shaikh family, which demanded that he either apologise or resign for his “insensitive remarks”.