State Government's SWINE FLU review meeting.

The CM is going to chair a meeting to review the swine situation in Gujarat.
Here is d Facto's take on what needs to be done:
· Goverrnment also should prepare and not panic. At Government level, its necc vigilance and preparations are promoted, not panic.
· We need to be active, not simply reactive and have a strategic response strategy to the pandemic.
· Have periodic reviews. If situation does not improve in next 10 days, Government needs to call off the Navratri festival celebrations organized under corporate aegis where a lot of NRIs and tourists come in.
· Once the Government takes this step, it can then preach what it practices and request other private Navratri organizers also to scale down the celebrations. However, this point just needs to be kept in mind at this point of time. A call can be taken after a fortnight.
· The government should come out with guidelines for schools and send it across to all schools and public institutions for hygiene. Also issue guidelines for the public. So people really know. Through Labour Commissioner similar guidelines for all factories too.
· Media should be requested to scale down alarmist reporting
Media needs to educate, not excite the public. Not everyone who gets cough and cold dies of swine flu. And swine flu if detected in time is curable. More people are dying of general flu than swine flu.
· Have more ventilators and mechanical respirator enabled ICUs and emergency beds ready for emergency.
· Does alternative treatment help ? Can swine flu be checked by alternative or holistic approach?. Instead of letting quacks prosper, the Government should come out with a concrete list and theme of alternative approaches to prevent or treat swine flu, if there is any.
· Proper Information Dissemination is absolutely necessary. Health minister Jaiarayan Vyas, health secretary Ravi Saxena and Health comm. Amarjit Singh are doing a good job and should be lauded. Because at this point of time it is important that true information is passed on to people. They are precisely doing that.
Lets add on to this list to make Gujarat tackle swine flu strategically and scientifically.