Pune: The condition of the three patients who were infected with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is fast improving and they would soon be shifted to Sassoon general hospital, said the health officer of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) Dr Anil Rawethkar on April 22.

Rawethkar said the doctors were, however, keeping them and their close relatives under quarantine as a precautionary measure.

The patients would be shifted to Sassoon hospital as the private hospital was not equipped to handle such sensitive cases, he said adding that the private hospital has also urged the government to transfer the patients to Sasoon, he added.

The Central Health Ministry has already instructed the authorities in the city to trace the people who might have come in contact with the three D'silvas and observe them.

Stanley D'Silva, his mother Vimla and sister Julie were the first confirmed cases of SARS in Maharashtra.

Stanley, a resident of Ambernath in Mumbai and working with a multinational company was on a tour of South East Asia when he is believed to have contracted the disease and from him it had allegedly spread to his mother and sister.

The Sassoon Hospital has isolated a six bed ward near the skin VD section for SARS patients following a high level meeting of the state health department along with local health officers at the hospital on April 21 night.

Meanwhile, Julie got married under the supervision of doctors in a city church on April 21.

PTI