Today was an off day in SISO with one employee reportedly affecting from swine flu. He came back from Korea this week only and was in the office yesterday. So, when he was tested positive for swine flu, a panic was created in the company which led to shut down of the office for a day. Reasonable enough!!!!!
The team to which the affected person belongs is same as one of my friends. This led to a double panic among him and his teammates.. And they did not waste a single minute having a check-up. Reasonable again.... In fact i am waiting for my friend's report so that i can decide if i also need the to be diagnosed. Hey wait..Just now i got a message SISO HR claiming that it will be safe to work from Monday onwards because they are sanitizing the SISO premises and buses. Cool!!!
Now coming to the real purpose of writing this blog. One might wonder why there is so much fuss about Swine Flu in India. What about other fatal diseases that are so prevalent in India and have taken the lives of so many people across the regions? The number of people who died due to swine flu are far-far less than other major diseases such as tuberculosis (TB), hydrophobia, hepatitis B, AID. Currently, the total number of worldwide infections stands at 1419 with 30 related deaths. In fact, just because the swine flu, initially discovered in Mexico, is imported from the West, it is getting much media-hyped. We Indians always tend to give too much weightage on anything carrying "foren tag", whether be apparels, food, movies, awards or diseases for that matter. Last year we witnessed the similar scenario when there was a panic following Bird Flu outbreak in countries like China,Indonesia.
That is not to say that we need don't need to give any importance to Swine Flu. In fact Indian government is making sure that this disease is not transported from outside the country with every person being quarantined for swine flu in international airport. But what about domestically-borne diseases? Why do we give step-motherly treatment to them? Don't they need to be eradicated from our country after taking so many lives and still doing so? And what about the biggest disease plaguing the country-Terrorism!!!
WHO has declared swine flu a level 6 pandemic considering the effect it has worldwide. On our part we need to take all preventive measures necessary to combat swine flu. Regularly wash our hands, drink lot of water and avoid keeping contact with the person showing symptoms of swine flu such as cold, cough,high fever, fatigueness. There is no need to press the panic button. We have many other issues at the fore. And on the last note my SISO friend not come out with positive result for swine flu. That's a relief!!!
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good that u dinn get swine flu....otherwise der wd hv been 1 more thing common between u nd a swine.................. flu !!!
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dude this post seems to be both misinformed and a little misguided.First of all WHO have declared swine flu as a level 6 pandemic. All this hype being created is not because the disease first appeared in the west! how preposterous a suggestion that is!!.
ReplyDeletePeople don't want a repetition of the many instances of deadly flu outbreaks, like the spanish flu outbreak that killed millions during the first world war. If adequate action is not taken now to make sure that the pandemic is not sustained, the virus may change into a different strain to which we many not be that immune, resulting in millions of deaths,numbering,as you put it, far far more than other major diseases like TB. To suggest such preventive action is another instance of giving weightage to 'foren tag' is utterly insane.
@~mkh~...I did mention that we need to take care all precautionary measures to prevent this disease this from affecting millions....Tell me 1 thing...don't u think that the number of deaths which occur as a result of TB,AIDS,Diabetes outscore Swine Flu??...Government should create more awareness about those diseases....Just as they are doing it for swine flu..
ReplyDeleteSee, the last time a H1N1 flu outbreak occurred on such a global scale, in 1918, almost 100mn ppl were killed world wide.What would have been the world's population that time? more than 5% of india's population was wiped out.
ReplyDeleteNobody wants that to happen again. That is why flu outbreaks are given greater media hype, as they can be contained, but nobody knows when the virus may pick up a different strain, and ppl start dying litereally in millions.
Now if you feel that the govt or whatever authorities are not doing enough for spreading awareness about other diseases, it is entirely another issue.Actually you may be right also.But does that justify you criticizing the govt for acting swiftly in the swine flu case? It does not. Whatever preventive action has to be taken, has to be taken to avoid a disaster in the future.It has got nothing to do with 'step-motherly' treatment to other problems, as you put it.
Dude...I did not criticize the government for taking swift actions...My only concern is the panic and hype which is created as a result of swine flu..In fact people should understand that the temperature in India will not sustain swine flu...My point is that just like the concern shown by government for swine flu,the same need to be extended for other diseases....We should not confine ourselves to swine flu...
ReplyDeleteHey dude,i fell govt has been doing its part of work as far as TB and AIDS is concerned...awarenes through local printmedia,tv,..even NGO's r doing a good job.Government is giving free treatment for both...infact free cond*ms ...but its society n uneducated poor people who dont understand swearity of disease till it is uncureable...i have seen people selling Free TB medicine they got from govt...who is responsible for it....its we the people...As far as diebtes go,its a mystery for medical fertanity too,so hard to comment over it
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