Recent Coronavirus outbreak poses a ‘very grave threat to the rest of the world’ – the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), reportedly said on February 11, 2020. Earlier, on January 28, 2020, it had changed the viruses’ risk-status from ‘moderate’ to ‘high’. As it creates a havoc in China, Coronavirus has recorded a limited spread in India, besides France, Canada, US, Japan, Thailand, Sri Lanka. This article will explore how prepared is India to tackle any similar biological threat to protect its citizens from a possible health catastrophe.
Let me begin by assessing pros and cons of the current initiatives of the Indian Government, both at the Center, as well as, in the States, in this regard.
The pros and cons:
Some of the ‘pros’, that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare promptly initiated are as follows:
- Updated Travel advisory for travelers visiting China.
- Discharge policy for suspected or confirmed novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) cases.
- Guidelines on Clinical management of Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) in suspect/confirmed 2019-nCoV cases.
- Guidance on surveillance for human infection with 2019-nCoV.
- Guidelines for ‘Infection Prevention and Control in Healthcare Facilities’.
- Guidance for sample collection, packaging and transportation for 2019-nCov.
The above steps are as commendable as some other prompt initiatives of the Ministry to stop Coronavirus from entering the country, such as leveraging technology for both thermal and symptomatic screening, especially at the high-risk airports.
However, according to global experts – India, along with several other countries are still ill prepared to face biological threats of a magnitude that we are now witnessing in China. On the other hand, according to February 12, 2020 publication of The World Economic Forum, there about a dozen of countries in the world who are best prepared for meeting similar health emergencies.
Similar calamity was predicted two years back by W.H.O:
Interestingly, a similar situation was predicted by none other than Tedros Adhanom, Director General of the World Health Organization and was reported on February 15, 2018. He then said, “We have a problem. A serious one. At any moment, a life-threatening global pandemic could spring up and wipe out a significant amount of human life on this planet. The death toll would be catastrophic. One disease could see as many as 100 million dead.”
“This is not some future nightmare scenario,” he added. “This is what happened exactly 100 years ago during the Spanish flu epidemic.” Again: “A devastating epidemic could start in any country at any time and kill millions of people because we are still not prepared. The world remains vulnerable.”Explaining the reason for the same, the Director General pinpointed: “The threat of a global pandemic comes from our apathy, from our staunch refusal to act to save ourselves — a refusal that finds its heart in our indifference and our greed.”
Now, when the world is grappling with the menace of Coronavirus …continue reading…
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