How has the Swine Flu Scare Negatively Impacted us in India?
Posted on Jan 25, 2010 by Reena Daruwalla | Comments 0
Now that increasing numbers of questions are being asked about the actual dangers posed by the H1N1 Swine flu, and whether it deserves the sobriquet of ‘Pandemic’, answers are being demanded because of the amount of money that has been spent on it globally and whether this expenditure was justified. We take a look at the many areas of public life where vast amounts were invested due to the swine flu scare:
Airports: The first cases of Swine flu entered India from abroad by channels such as air travel. So swiftly checking at international airports became the norm, with doctors and other health officials being placed at the site to monitor people coming in. Scanners and other detection devices such as thermal cameras were installed at very considerable cost at airports to try and screen and thereafter isolate those infected with Swine flu.
Healthcare costs: The government has incurred tremendous expenditure procuring and stockpiling Tamiflu tablets, equipping public hospitals with testing faculties to detect swine flu positive individuals and setting up isolation wards for swine flu positive patients. Further there has been a great deal of money spent on vaccine procurement. Since there is no indigenous vaccine currently available, in the country it was necessary to conduct clinical trials of imported vaccines to determine their safety and efficacy for Indian populations. There was increased pressure on already stretched public health care systems with vast crowds and long lines of people wanting to be tested and requiring medical attention for their swine flu infection.
Effect on the Educational System of the country: Countless numbers of schools have lost countless productive teaching days because of the swine flu scare firstly because of a government directive and then out of abundant caution or possibly due to parents pressuring school authorities to close schools. Whatever be the reason, one now wonders if there was sufficient reason for school closures.
Negative impact on Tourism: The swine flu scare has negatively impacted tourism in the country, with people choosing not to travel to Indian because of the H1N1 scare.
Negative Impact on the Movie industry: With the stress being placed on swine flu spreading in public places, particularly those where people tend to congregate in large numbers, people chose to stay at home rather than go to theatres to watch their favourite stars. A lot of money was lost due to this.
While the swine flu pandemic had this negative impact on several areas of public life, there have been those that have benefitted: certainly pharmaceutical companies have benefitted, with the government and people rushing to procure swine flu medication. Then manufacturers of surgical masks and hand wash liquids and hand sanitizer gels have also profited greatly from the pandemic.
Add to this there is now the emerging nexus between the board members of the WHO and several international pharma companies, which leads us to ask several questions about whether this was just a scare that was blown out of proportion of whether there was need to label Swine Flu a pandemic?
We are informed that around 3.7 million people in England alone have already been vaccinated against H1N1 flu at the urging of the WHO according to this NDTV report. 62 million Americans have received H1N1 shots and Chinese health experts told the WHO this week that a similar number had been vaccinated against the virus in China. And there is now real cause to wonder if people and governments were really required to undergo the expenses that they have? Has the world been taken for a ride in the interests of big pharma companies? These and several other pertinent questions are currently being asked.
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Posted in: H1N1 • Swine Flu News • WHO
