Dunedin and Invercargill Hospitals are prepared to take in patients from the swine flu swamped Christchurch Hospital, but no patients have yet been transferred.
Otago and Southland District Health Boards incident controller Elaine Chisnall said all South Island boards were in contact to support each other as much as possible with the care of critically ill patients.
News reports yesterday said eight people were in the Christchurch intensive care unit with swine flu or flu-like illnesses who needed ventilation.
The unit had also had to increase the number of patients from 12 to 15 and might have to send patients to other South Island hospitals.
The Dunedin Hospital unit, which has been on the redevelopment project list for many years, can accommodate 10 patients, but usually only takes six because of space and staffing issues.
Yesterday, information was not available on whether there were any patients with confirmed swine flu in Dunedin Hospital's intensive care unit.
Mrs Chisnall said the hospital had been comfortable with the way patients with outpatient appointments had responded to the request to check in within three days of their scheduled appointments if they had experienced flu-like symptoms.
"We have only had a few people ring and most people who are ill with the flu have felt too ill to attend their appointment anyway, and have been given an alternative future appointment."
Nationally, the number of deaths related to swine flu rose yesterday to 10, with the death of a Tairawhiti man in his 40s who had serious underlying medical conditions.
Concern about reports of up to six new mothers infected with swine flu in Sydney being on life support after giving birth prematurely, because the virus was threatening the lives of their babies, prompted the Ministry of Health to draw attention to its advice to pregnant women.
It is not known if the Sydney women had underlying health issues.
The ministry was not able to give any statistics yesterday on the number of pregnant women in New Zealand who might be in hospital because of swine flu.
Deputy director of public health Dr Darren Hunt said pregnant women were a group at greater risk of complications from swine flu, including pneumonia, and needed to be particularly watchful for signs and symptoms of the virus.
They were more susceptible to all types of flu because of the physiological changes which occurred in pregnancy, including those to the immune system.
Pregnant women with flu-like symptoms should contact their general practitioner or Healthline for advice.
They could be prescribed antiviral medication, which was most effective if taken as soon as possible after the onset of symptoms.
Fever should also be treated quickly and paracetamol was the best treatment for fever in pregnancy.
Mothers who were breast-feeding should continue to do so because it would help babies to fight any infection.
Information about whether any pregnant women had been admitted to Dunedin Hospital with swine flu was not available yesterday.
