Category: H1N1

Suspects?

October 30, 2009 by Taran Rampersad

I saw the headline, Suspects Flooding Sando Hospital and wondered what the hell that was about. After all, the Trinidad Express main stories today are about a foiled kidnapping, a father accidentally shot by police and Cabinet making room for 24 more senior police.

So suspects flooding the San Fernando General Hospital seems pretty interesting. Are criminals now so afraid of the police that they are trying to practice medicine without a licence? What's going on?

Let me throw you a rope here. The full title of the article is Suspects flooding Sando hospital
3 in ICU for swine flu.  Really. So first, there are no 'suspects'. 

There are people who are afraid of possibly having the swine flu. Granted, I do think that it is a crime that the government and media are perpetuating the global fear locally - with little in the way of facts to support them.

But it isn't a crime to be afraid. So why on earth are they being called suspects on a day so heavy with police related headlines? Is it that some think we should arrest people with the swine flu? 

Seriously. Sometimes I wonder.

Swine Flu: Sanitise our minds instead, MoH

October 29, 2009 by Edmund Gall

After Influenza A/H1N1, aka swine flu, has been confirmed to have infected a worker or student, the rest of the employees and students are sometimes asked to remain at home for special sanitisation of the building(s) where the patient worked/studied.

We’ve seen this most recently at the South West Regional Health Authority.  These are the folks responsible for administering our health service in the south.  So we expect them to know what they’re about and to be exemplars of how one should respond.  But have they been exemplary?

Closure for special sanitisation started with the early school outbreaks, such as at Grant Memorial Presbyterian Primary School.  However, this only happened after parents openly complained and kept their children at home, despite the advice of the school’s principal.  Eventually, teachers joined the boycott and the school building was sanitised.  Depending on who you believe, students lost between 2 and 7 school days. {Read more}

On H1N1 in Trinidad and Tobago

October 23, 2009 by Taran Rampersad

Full disclosure: I'm not a doctor, I do have a medical background... but this is all pretty much common sense. Apply liberally.

There are a lot of people, globally, caught up in fear of the Swine Flu (H1N1). According to the World Health Organization,  there have been 5,000 documented deaths caused by Swine Flu to date. That may seem like a lot, but let's put it into context with other diseases. In Trinidad and Tobago, the present deaths can be counted with fingers.

The CDC averages annual deaths from the seasonal flu in the United States alone is roughly 36,000. Really. Put into that context, how bad is the Swine Flu?

It's all in how you look at the figures.

But the popular reaction to the Swine Flu hasn't been that scientific, and it shouldn't be expected to be. It's a threat to the health gives an emotional response which can and should be capitalized on. How do you prevent the spread of the Swine Flu? 

The very same way you're supposed to avoid spreading any disease. Wash your hands. Cover your mouth when you cough, cover your nose when you sneeze. Don't believe me? Check the Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of Health website, or any other website. It's all in plain view.

Did anyone really think it was possible that a country wouldn't have cases of the Swine Flu? I'm not saying that the deaths in Trinidad and Tobago weren't due to lack of proper care - I don't know - but what I am saying is that some deaths should be expected.  {Read more}