Panic to Relief: Swine Flu In India

The reason for the panic about swine flu in India is mainly due to the mishandling of the government in the initial phases when swine flu entered India. Gov insisted that only patients who are tested positive for H1N1 virus can be administered TamiFlu and only gov hospitals were authorized to provide treatement to H1N1 positive patients. Even worse, the testing samples were only being collected by gov hospitals and they soon become over burdended, leading to delays in finding the results (24-48 hours) and indirectly delaying the treatment, which eventually resulted in dire consequences including death.

Now, the gov has woken up and to the great relief of people, came out with new guidelines which are far better and would hopefully help handle this pandemic and reduce panic in India. Firstly, it has allowed treatment and administration of TamiFlu to patients with Class-C level of symptoms (severe symptoms/vulnerable segment of people) without the mandatory H1N1 test. Secondly, it has roped in private hospitals of good reputation to collect the test samples and also provided them TamiFlu tablets so that they can treat the patients. Thirdly, it has started a process of authorizing capable private labs to do H1N1 testing. As more than 70-80% of people in urban india rely on private hospitals, this has come as a huge relief to everyone and we welcome the gov new guidelines!