H1N1, India and Pune
It has been long time that I wrote something on my blog as I was busy with more important things in my life. But the situation I see here in my own city has forced my to hit the blog to convey what I feel about flu in Pune and in India.
Last week when all the news channels were flooded with the news of the first swine flu death in India and that was in Pune, I started getting calls from my family and friends. They asked my well being and gave a long lecture on how I can prevent myself to get infected. All of them was easy to follow except one – The Mask!
After I finished all my calls, my girl friend asked me get masks for us. So we planned to take a ride and get a couple of masks for us and for our friends. We got into my car and moved towards a chemist but to my dismay he only had those surgical masks to offer. I asked him about the prescribed mask and got to know we call it N95. Further information extraction from him suggested that we move towards some big hospitals to procure some.
We hit the road towards the University circle and onto the first hospital i.e. Sancheti. But alas! We could not get one there. We then decided to go and lookout in Ruby Hall Clinic and Jehangir Hospital. On the way I found no one without a mask except us and so my girl friend got so terrified. There was no sign of traffic on a Saturday evening and that was a surprise too. I was driving on the top gear and that seems to be impossible on a normal Saturday at that time. Somehow we reached those hospitals but could not get a mask.
Horrified and surprised and unhappy we returned but then we thought of taking another way back home to touch some big chemist shops. We went to FC Road, SB Road and Karve Road but all the chemist denied to have even a single of those N95. Finally we came back home.
The very next day we were suppose to go to a friend’s place for lunch. She is pregnant and so we were more concerned about her. Her husband and I went on for a look out – Mask Hunt!
The good news is that we found a N95 mask in one of the chemist shop but he had only one piece. The cost was whopping high – INR 250 and that was too high for it because the actual cost is somewhere around INR 20. I was hit badly with a thought that why such things happen in India? Why people take situations against humanity as opportunities? Why do they want to cash on someone else’s pain? We know that majority of our population is not so financially strong, how could they afford such a high cost mask?
We just cannot say – It is India my friend because we do not want to live in a country like this. I would rather like to change things and make it a better place but I find myself to be so timid to do this. The very same day I read an article in the newspaper that makes a note from a survey saying India ranks at 171st among 175 countries for a ranking based on Health care spending.
We call ourselves to be super power but do we think and introspect that how much do we spend on Health care services out of our GDP. I do not want to put figures from various other countries but still we need to think about this. Private sector accounts to the most of the health care system in India. Where does the tax payers money go? On top of this we have our union health minister throwing unacceptable statements. Why do we want to play dirty politics at the cost of lives of our citizens?
This would not change unless we want them to change. We need to think and rethink and build a strategy to have a control on such situations. Government should make basic facilities available to every citizen. Why government was late to recognize the fact that we need more screening centers for H1N1 and more quarantine wards apart from Naidu Hospital and Aundh General Hospital.
WHO study says that 1/3rd of the Indian population is going to be infected in another 2 years and we know by then some new strains of this deadly virus would come into existence. We need to gear up for more worst situations.
The count of deaths due to H1N1 is 16 in India when I am writing this post. I am sad for the families who lost there loved ones. I can do nothing but to pass on my condolences.
August 12th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Interesting and informative article!!
The other thing I would add here is an extract from a wiki on swine flu:
“The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the use of Tamiflu (oseltamivir) or Relenza (zanamivir) for the treatment and/or prevention of infection with swine influenza viruses; however, the majority of people infected with the virus make a full recovery without requiring medical attention or antiviral drugs.”
So people boost your immune system, have a lot of Nimbu pani, kishmish, etc..
Regards,
Mann
August 13th, 2009 at 11:50 am
A simple question you can ask yourself. How often do you fall sick coz of Normal flu?.
As H1N1 spreads similarly reasons being weak immunity, carelessness in hygiene or rarely getting in contact with flu affected person.
So If the answer to above question is very rare then chill.
The panic spread accross people is reason of sudden load on infrastructure due to which people who can be easily cured are not getting medicare on time. May be delayed reports, out of stock Masks etc.
Please don’t just blame govt. its like that from past 50 years and it’ll take another 50 to show some change.
August 13th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Hi,
Sorry to diappoint you but in Karnataka, the Health Minister is busy campiagning In Bellary when he is needed most in the State Capital and to look after the residents of the State. Who is to Blame in this Case? Its the Goverment !!! They are not taking enough steps to take care of the citizens of the country. Havoc and Panic have been created among the people and the Government is not doing anything to calm down the anxious masses. Everyone is trying to cash on the expense of others. If proper arrangements had been made at the Goverment hospitals to handle this pandemic then everything would have been in control as of now. But that is not the case. We should take care of ourselves and our friends and relatives and have enough precautionary measures to avoid this scenario. All the Best to all of you !!!
August 13th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Going little contrast what I feel is,
panic of H1N1 is hurting us more than actual virus.
In last few days, I have been reading a lot on H1N1, its symptoms, precautions, and possible cure also consulted few doctors.
People are dying even after getting admitted in flu special hospitals.
I concluded, only thing which can help people is their own immunity, which differs person to person and will be developed with time.
We never know, we might have inhaled H1N1 virus but they couldn’t survive against our immunity system and hence we won.
Cold and fever has been so familiar diseases that we stopped considering it as a disease.
Fact is, cold and fever destroys our immunity system very badly. Hence our body becomes prone to any new disease for which our internal protection system is not ready.
So the best prevention are all those which keeps you away from cold and fever.
These can be our daily life precautions like maintain Hygiene, taking hot water, steam, taking vitamin C etc…
As far as we are healthy our body will keep on winning over foreign bodies like H1N1.
Another question I would like to raise is
To what extent wearing surgical mask through out the day in office is going to help us in preventing our self from H1N1