Government must ramp up efforts to fight virus
With more than 600 patients having died from swine flu across the country, it is clear that the Government's initial response to the disease had not been enough. Tuesday alone saw the death of 39 patients while the overall infection toll crossed 9,000. This prompted Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare JP Nadda to hold an emergency meeting to review the Government's counter-strategy. There is clearly an urgent need to scale up existing measures and put up a more aggressive fight. First, the Government should seriously consider launching a large-scale public awareness campaign.
This will help contain the spread of this contagious infection, as well as ensure that those already infected with the virus take immediate preventive measures that could save their lives. Basic precautions, like washing one's hands before eating or after using public facilities, covering one's nose and mouth while sneezing and coughing, keeping one's home and office clean, can go a long way in this regard. Also, because swine flu symptoms are so similar to those resulting from a common cold, many patients don't immediately seek medical attention.
It is only when the symptoms have aggravated that they go to the doctor. But, by then, it's usually too late. Second, the Government must ensure that swine flu testing and screening kits and drugs that fight the virus, such as Oseltamivir (usually marketed as Tamiflu), are made available. In recent days, there have been reports that some large hospitals have run out of supply, and the matter has been taken up by the Health Minister as well. The Drug Controller General of India has written to over 10,000 chemists all over the country to stock Oseltamivir but not sell it without prescription. A third area of concern is the safety of health workers who are at the frontlines of the battle against swine flu. They certainly deserve priority attention.
An important aspect of fighting any such contagious disease is to avoid panic and counter alarmist media reportage. In the current context, yes, the numbers are worrying, but they are not as bad as 2009 when a pandemic was declared — more than 27,000 cases were reported and 981 people died from swine flu that year. On the flip side, however, compared to 2009, the death rate has almost doubled this year, to 6.9 per cent — although that is still better than last year's 23.3 per cent. Also, in terms of drug availability, the public should be made aware that there are stockpiles for 60,000 adult doses of Oseltamivir and a 1,000 doses of the paediatric syrup. If need be, the three domestic companies that manufacture the drug can ramp up production on a short notice. Knowing this, should put the public at ease and control hoarding and self-medication tendencies to some extent. The problem here is usually a disconnect between production and delivery, and this is where the Government needs to come in. It may have done its bit in the beginning, but it needs to do more now.