Guwahati, April 3 - Imagine a heart attack or a road accident victim being wheeled into a private hospital and the family members worrying not about the patient's health but about how will they meet the hospital bills.

In Assam, from now on anyone needing emergency treatment need not bother about the bills. The state government has made it mandatory for all private hospitals to provide free treatment for the first 24 hours.

Guwahati, Jan 8 - A bird flu scare has hit the Kaziranga National Park in Assam with carcasses of at least a dozen migratory Bar-headed Geese found in the sanctuary, officials said Friday.

A park warden said at least seven geese were found dead Friday. Five carcasses of the same species that had recently arrived at the sanctuary from Siberia were recovered Thursday.

Guwahati, Jan 8 - Junali Devi, a widow living in Assam, is eagerly awaiting the launch of India's first matrimonial website for HIV-positive people.

Guwahati's 35-year-old Junali (name changed on request), who lost her husband three years ago to HIV/AIDS, is among thousands of HIV-positive people in northeast India and elsewhere excited by the prospects of finding a good match through the website.

"I am pinning all my hopes to find a genuine match on the proposed website. I want to live a life with dignity and want someone who is intelligent, sober, and caring," Junali told IANS.

Guwahati, Dec 27 - A 21-year-old college student Sunday died of swine flu, the first fatality to the deadly H1N1 virus in Assam, an official said.

A health department spokesperson said the girl student, Shikha Biswas, was declared dead early Sunday by doctors at the Guwahati Medical College Hospital.

"She was at the hospital for the past 13 days after she tested H1N1 positive. Her condition deteriorated suddenly and she died early Sunday," a doctor at the medical college said.

Shikha was a college student in Jagiroad, 56 km east of here.