Bloody swine

Pune is living in fear, being the epicentre of the deadly swine flu attack. Alarmed by the reach of its ugly tentacles, we in Pune are slowly turning into hypochondriacs. A sneeze or a cough is becoming reason enough for us to press the panic button.
But the panic is not really because of fear of being attacked by the virus, but the logistics of its treatment. There is chaos in the two hospitals, assigned to test and treat swine flu victims. Naturally, people are rushing there even if they have a common cold. Not really their fault because the symptoms of swine flu and common influenza are identical. The burden also fell heavily on the testing centre. Only yesterday, the Maharashtra government assigned five private hospitals to treat H1N1 cases.
But the Maharashtra government did a classic Nero-like act last week when it met to discuss the swine flu situation. It decided to grant permission to realtors for building high-rises of 100 metres! That is the level of commitment of our political leaders!
Mercifully, the government is now slowly waking up to the menacing virus. Pune has become a ghost town. Schools and colleges have been closed for a week. Emulating the Mexico model, the government has asked movie theatres and malls to shut shop and advised people to stay indoors unless absolutely essential. All these measures could have been taken last week when there were warning signs, and one fatality. It is frightening that more cities are now coming under the threat.
But there are questions which need to be answered. Is the media playing a responsible role, or it is ‘the’ reason for the deafening alarm bells? In its hunger for bytes and updates, has it sensationalised the epidemic (pandemic could be a better word considering its geographical reach)?
There is also a constant comparison with the West, where despite Swine flu having affected more people, there does not seem to be trepidation. Then did the Western media deliberately downplay the spread of the disease?
Whatever the media coverage, there is a bigger question mark on the abysmal Indian health care system and the allocation of budget for this sector. It remains low year after year. The health care sector has been silently subsidising the government’s tax-break largesse for industrial and IT sectors to facilitate its double-digit growth projection.
Hygiene and sanitation remain a distant dream in public health care. Corruption has added to the muck in the system. Amid an emerging national health emergency, it is high time our country develops a sound political will to improve public health care to handle such epidemics with maturity.