Why should we be afraid of swine flu?
Spend on healthcare first and then on disease care :
Dr. P. K. SASIDHARAN
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The following article, though written
about India has considerable relevance to Sri Lanka. Hence, we reproduce
it here, courtesy The Hindu.
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We are not really afraid of typhoid, tuberculosis, leptospirosis,
diabetes, HIV, Malaria and a host of other infectious and non-infectious
diseases which are flourishing in our country. The apathy towards the
basic issues in healthcare is really appalling. Why should we be afraid
of swine flu alone?
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A child wearing a mask in Mumbai fearing swine flu. AFP |
The medical profession is busy and happy treating diseases, confining
to its own insulated and comfortable compartments. I happened to read
with concern the comments made by some that we are not equipped to face
the threat of swine flu, as if we are already well equipped to face the
threat of all other communicable diseases; they go on to assert that the
problems we face are due to lack of dedicated infectious disease
departments and dearth of WHO-trained doctors in the medical colleges of
Kerala.
A matter of approach
It is true that we need infectious disease units in each medical
college, like the ones we already have; but the only problem is that we
do not have an adequate number of doctors to spare to improve the
services, to conduct research and surveillance.
The issue can be solved easily by posting a few more doctors for this
purpose alone rather than hunting for WHO-trained doctors. Why not the
existing system be made to tackle the problem by reorienting and
reorganizing than compartmentalizing? In healthcare (no disease care),
there is only doctor-oriented planning and implementation and no
community-oriented planning. A properly trained MBBS doctor or even an
educated person with common sense and some training is more than enough
to manage the threat of any public health issue. The general medicine
department of any medical college can easily tackle all these if they
have a few more doctors and isolated wards.
We ignore healthcare and literally manufacture disease of all colour
and shades, and finally we have a museum of all diseases. We have
already become the diabetic capital of the world, and now we are trying
to overtake Sub Saharan Africa to win the first place in the number of
AIDS cases, malnutrition and environment-related infections, which
produce more morbidity and mortality than swine flu.
The developed countries are worried since they have controlled all
infections by proper waste management, safe drinking water and good
nutrition for all and press the panic button the moment they come across
any one of them.
They would have shown similar panic if typhoid, viral hepatitis,
leptospirosis or TB occur in much lesser numbers than we see in India.
Why are we not similarly worried about these diseases which kill several
thousands annually? Let us not panic merely to show that we are also
developed and evolved.
The basic issues
All communicable diseases are flourishing here because of lack of
basic health amenities, malnutrition, poor environmental hygiene, unsafe
drinking and water. People are now exposed to unchecked consumerist
forces promoting lifestyle disorders with an even greater impact on us.
One more world environment day had passed - we behaved like the
developed world by planting one or two trees here and there and having a
talk on ozone layer and green house effect and that is it. We overlook
environmental issues like poor waste management and unsafe drinking
water everywhere.
We always ignore basic issues and go for knee-jerk reactions to
appear big in front of developed countries. We need to do some homework
and introspect and bring well-meaning leaders with a vision for the
people on top of every system and make changes to achieve health and
prosperity and then start panicking at problems like swine flu. We must
try to achieve good environmental hygiene and provide safe drinking
water for everyone.
We must prioritize and spend on healthcare first and then on disease
care.
The writer is Dean, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calicut,India.
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