Although a number of our ministers, historically, have suffered from this disease, this is the first time the health minister himself has been caught in its vicious web. Poor chap! First he put his foot in the mouth by saying the first Indian casualty, a young girl in Pune, was responsible for spreading the virus among at least 80 people as she moved from one hospital to the other. He quickly retracted after there was an uproar over his insensitivity, but he has followed that with an encore, this time with both his feet, by saying that 33% of Indians will contract the flu by 2011. I find it hard to believe that the minister actually said that!
No wonder, there are murmurs that his statement, apart from adding to the prevailing panic, may have actually helped the cause of some pharmaceutical companies.
But why blame the minister alone for adding to the panic? Our exalted media, especially the electronic media, are doing no better. There have been less than 1,000 confirmed cases in a country of over a billion, and by everybody’s admission, the strain that is of a mild variety, is certainly no cause for the kind of panic that is being witnessed. Sure, there have been avoidable deaths, which are tragic as all deaths are, but the truth is there are more who die in this country due to other diseases.
One can even argue that the panic is not necessarily due to the number of infections, or the growing death count, but our past record in containing the spread of ailments, especially given the shambolic state of our healthcare system. Could be true, which is why we need to act, and act fast. But we certainly don’t need to panic as if we are nearing the end of this world.
Apart from making for a scared populace, it also makes little economic sense. If we continue to whip up panic, some of the western nations are bound to issue advisories that India is an unsafe place to travel to. Wouldn’t that be ironic? We imported that disease from the west in the first place. I am sure, the exporters of the disease are chuckling somewhere at our stupidity.
http://www.travelchacha.com/
