As usual, in any area of life, especially when it involves life of thousands of people, the great Indian government wakes up only after heavy casualties – in terms of life, limb, etc.  Let me elaborate a little with day-to-day, real-life examples – how many times have you not heard or read in dailies that a manhole near a slum was covered AFTER a toddler fell into it and died, a streetlight pole was repaired AFTER a man was charred to death due to live wire contact, a road trench dug up months before was filled up AFTER an old lady slipped into it and was hospitalized for broken hips etc., etc.  My dear friend, swine flu is no exception!

The attitude of the Indian government is, as usual, abysmally casual and laidback, even as the very basic health facilities are lacking to tackle the spread of dreaded disease of H1N1 virus that causes swine flu.  When dozens of people were reported suspicious of harboring the dreaded disease a month ago (now declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization), our health minister was busy preparing his next speech and media appearance on how his ministry was able to “take steps which other nations didn’t”.  This is a big piece of nonsense and a lie to cover up the deficiencies and irresponsibility!  Future voters beware and prepare for next elections, keeping this government or party OUT OF your constituency, minds, and voting lists FOREVER – let us all prevent liars from ruling us ever in the future, starting today!

Why do we forget that we, as a 62-year-old “Independent” nation, are still light years behind other nations when it comes to basic health facilities, health-related infrastructure and logistics, and disbursal and dispensing of healthcare to the needy poor and underprivileged far and wide across India?  Can you explain the death of Rida Shaikh, India’s first casualty, an innocent teenager from Pune whose life was sniffed out by H1N1?  Where did she get the flu from?  Okay, WHERE did the swine flu first set foot in India?  Does anyone have a clue – the doctors who treated her, Indian government, or the public?  What preventive steps did we take to prevent the passage of the disease into our country, when we first heard of it?  Have we not learned from our or other’s past experience with bird flu?

Due to the lack of clearcut and elaborate guidelines to tackle the spread of the pandemic by our government, India, as of this writing, has witnessed over TWO DOZEN swine flu deaths (Pune in Maharashthra state being the chart topper), and we still seem to be in the disease spreading and transmission phase.  On the other hand, our “colonial cousins” (United Kingdom) has already taken advanced steps of spreading the message of “catch it, bin it, kill it” very actively and now are in the disease containment and treatment stage.  Did I mention, in other developed nations they take great precautions for contagious disease like pinkeye/conjunctivitis or TB?  Affected employees are immediately granted sick leave to prevent spreading of the disease which would result in mass absenteeism and loss of productivity and wages!  Do we have it in us here in India?

Indian government indifference apart, the public, including gullible ones and “educated fools”, to an extent mislead by media are also party to spreading the disease and above all panic and rumor spreading!  There are many cases of people cashing big time on other people’s ignorance or utter foolishness, by stockpiling and black marketing essential medicines, selling fake pills and potions, and passing off inferior quality medicines for exorbitant profits.  I recently read about one hilarious case of cheap bra being sold as face masks after cutting in two halves and re-stitching in Bangalore (source – Bangalore Mirror daily).  I am yet to find something more hilarious than this to come from a Metro city like Bangalore, now fastest growing con and scam city of India, from India’s most corrupt state – Karnataka!

In conclusion, the spreading of the swine flu/H1N1 pandemic is in major part due to the Indian government’s lackadaisical attitude as also due to hypersensitive press and public which needs to be educated A to Z through extensive campaigns about PREVENTION of the disease, for which a cure is still elusive.