Swine flu panic achieved what terrorists could never and will never achieve. It has brought the city of Mumbai to a halt. The pandemonium created by the media and to a certain extent the people have brought Mumbai to a halt. No minor or major bomb blast in mumbai has created so much confusion and panic among the people.
Experts say that swine flu is just another strain of influenza. It is perfectly curable. Its just another flu. It has Medicines and the situation can out of control only if the patient's immunity levels are low. This is true with pneumonia or any other infection.
Whatever it may be, its stupid to close down cinema halls and schools because of this virus. What is likely to change if the schools are closed for 1 week or 10 days. The Virus will not take a break or evaluate the cost benefit ratio and move into the next city. Virus cannot and will not be eliminated in one week. Its ridiculous to shut public places. This will only add to the fear of the people and create more confusion.
Its high time that people and particularly media behave more pragmatically. They are simply blowing the situation out of proportion. There is a TB related death every 2 minutes in India. More than 1000 children die in India everyday from Vitamin A deficiency. Number is almost same for the number of diarrhoea deaths every day in India. Annually about 45000 pregnant women die because of under nutrition. About 7 million babies are born every year with iodine deficiency. More than 2 million babies have folic acid deficiency. None of this gets reported in the main stream media.
Media is obsessed with numbers. Headlines in most news channel today said "Swine flu toll up to 15" Another leading channel says "Swine flu meter running fast". This is ridiculous. Are the news channels competing in reporting deaths.
Even if they are, there are other deaths everyday in India. As i said before, they can report a case of malnutrition or under nutrition death every 5 minutes. They seem to be turning a blind eye towards this grave problem.
This is not the first strain to have hit the country not this will be the last. Media must be careful not to exaggerate the issue and cause panic among people.
Experts say that swine flu is just another strain of influenza. It is perfectly curable. Its just another flu. It has Medicines and the situation can out of control only if the patient's immunity levels are low. This is true with pneumonia or any other infection.
Whatever it may be, its stupid to close down cinema halls and schools because of this virus. What is likely to change if the schools are closed for 1 week or 10 days. The Virus will not take a break or evaluate the cost benefit ratio and move into the next city. Virus cannot and will not be eliminated in one week. Its ridiculous to shut public places. This will only add to the fear of the people and create more confusion.
Its high time that people and particularly media behave more pragmatically. They are simply blowing the situation out of proportion. There is a TB related death every 2 minutes in India. More than 1000 children die in India everyday from Vitamin A deficiency. Number is almost same for the number of diarrhoea deaths every day in India. Annually about 45000 pregnant women die because of under nutrition. About 7 million babies are born every year with iodine deficiency. More than 2 million babies have folic acid deficiency. None of this gets reported in the main stream media.
Media is obsessed with numbers. Headlines in most news channel today said "Swine flu toll up to 15" Another leading channel says "Swine flu meter running fast". This is ridiculous. Are the news channels competing in reporting deaths.
Even if they are, there are other deaths everyday in India. As i said before, they can report a case of malnutrition or under nutrition death every 5 minutes. They seem to be turning a blind eye towards this grave problem.
This is not the first strain to have hit the country not this will be the last. Media must be careful not to exaggerate the issue and cause panic among people.
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