Flu virus tests India’s official response

By Rajeev Sharma Source:Global Times Published: 2015-3-4 0:43:01

 

Illustration: Liu Rui/GT



India is once again in the grip of the H1N1 virus, or "swine flu." More than half of India's states have reported cases of H1N1 afflictions.

As of now, 1075 people have died while nearly 20,000 are affected by the H1N1 virus.

The seven most affected states, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Delhi, Telengana, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, account for almost 92 percent of all reported cases and 87 percent of the death toll.

The H1N1 virus has tested the government's response to a public health crisis that the globally-hyped Ebola didn't.

This is not the first time that India has been affected by H1N1 on such a large scale. India reeled under H1N1 pandemics in 2009 and 2010.

The number of reported cases in 2009 was 27,236 and in 2010 20,604. The number of deaths in 2009 was 981 and in 2010 the deaths nearly doubled to 1763.

The Indian government has been given a breather by the World Health Organization (WHO) which has been watching the outbreak of the H1N1 pandemic in India very closely. The WHO has stated that there are no alarming signs yet to indicate the markings of a large outbreak of H1N1 virus in India.

For its part, the Indian government has put up a brave front with regard to the pandemic, has denied any shortage of drugs and claimed that its countermeasures are moving in the right direction.

Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda made an elaborate statement in parliament on February 24 detailing the steps already taken by the government in tackling the disease. Nadda sought to underplay the number of deaths attributed to the virus.

The government has explained that many of the deaths attributed to H1N1 actually took place because of "the co-morbid conditions" of the patients. It has argued that such persons were "immuno-compromised and consequently more vulnerable."

Most of the deaths attributed to the H1N1 virus, according to the Indian government's official version, were among patients who were already battling diseases such as cancer, diabetes, tuberculosis and respiratory ailments, and thus their immunity mechanisms had already been substantially degraded.

There was another factor. In many cases, the affected persons sought medical intervention at a very late stage when their chances of survival were already dim.

The minister has assured parliament that the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already supplied to the affected states 58,000 capsules of Oseltamivir, the made-in-India drug for H1N1 virus recommended by the WHO.

Oseltamivir, however, cannot be sold over the counter. It is made available only against prescription by a qualified doctor and sold through a chemist with licence to sell it.

The government is regulating the supply of this drug as it does not want a situation where due to irrational use of the drug, resistance develops, rendering the drug incapable of fighting the virus.

Nadda also pointed out that the laboratory network of the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme and Indian Council of Medical Research, comprising 21 laboratories across different parts of India, is providing free testing facilities for H1N1.

The affected states have further supplemented these efforts by authorizing private diagnostic laboratories for conducting tests. However, this has led to several unscrupulous private laboratories charging far more than the government-recommended price of about $70 per test. In many cases, the government has initiated action against such private facilities.

But there are many worrying signs that the response has been inadequate. A drug shortage has been reported, and only 2800 stores, apart from government hospitals, possess the special licence to sell Oseltamivir. This is a small number given the size and population of India; and the licenced stores are unevenly spaced out.

Nadda contends that the situation is very much under control. "It is the same virus of 2009 and there is no mutation in the virus. Consequently, the drug Oseltamivir used during the time of pandemic 2009-2010 remains effective for treatment now also. We have the diagnostic capacity and we are equipped and capable of detecting this virus," he told parliament.

The author is a New Delhi-based independent journalist. bhootnath004@yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Kishkindha

Posted in: Viewpoint

blog comments powered by Disqus