The only way to tackle this panic and health scare is to rope in govt approved accredited testing labs to do the tests. H1N1 can be cured safely if TREATED IN TIME. Its ridiculous to say those in contact with a patient or foreign traveller has priority for testing.Every sick person has the right to be tested immediately and not waste time standing in line hoping his or her turn will come. The govt needs to wake up now before morer fatalities occur.

Generally this flu is coming from people coming from abroad. Our health authorities are not screening the air passengers properly since they fear that they will get the flu. Also people coming from abroad don't like our Indian Govt. hospitals which are not clean and tidy and they are always smelling nasty, because of which they try to avoid going for check ups.
Hence reputed Private Hospitals must be allowed to deal with the epidemic by providing Suitable isolation wards which adhere to international standards.

HOWEVER THE BEST SOLUTION IS TO OPEN A TEMPORARY ISOLATION WARD IN THE AIRPORT ITSELF SO THAT THEY DO NOT ENTER THE CITY AND MIX WITH THE PEOPLE.
In case of a foreigner and if he has swine flu then send him back to his country in the same flight.

This way we can save swine flu from spreading and saving innocent people.But unfortunately our government is not able to take any strong decision to protect its citizens.

A relevant question sounds almost humorous in light of known level of preparedness. More than 1 billion are expected to be infected by H1N1 in the next 2 to 3 years. At present, H1N1 test and treatment is mostly handled by the Government Hospitals due to the safety requirements. There is simply no way the Government infrastructure can meet the panic driven demand for testing and treatment. Private Hospitals must be allowed to deal with the epidemic. Some sort of regulation is needed to ensure required safety and to check exploitation of the infected by the Private health care system. Either way, it will have its share of scams and scandals as systemic inefficiency does not exclude making money even out of misery and sufferings. But, there is no other way out.

Not at all.....India was not at all prepared to deal with such an epidemic and more so with the knowledge that swine flu spreads rapidly....No measures were taken by the government till now and even after it has affected nearly 600 people here,the government is not equipped at all and obviously the people will be anxious.....not many testing centres and where will all this lead to in a few days.....We all belong to one country and the government does not want to involve the private sector in dealing with the epidemic.....Well any day the private sector is the best as care is taken properly and the patients will receive timely help...Government wake up before it is too late....

The problem in our country is that we are never prepared. We just wait for things to happen and try to take ad-hoc measures without any sustainable planning. Swine flu started spreading in potentially disastrous proportions from March and now in August, we are still trying to find out best ways to test and contain. This is ridiculous. But every now and then people don’t loose their chance of making big speeches about how competent the system is and how well India is coping with. Only noteworthy step the health ministry has taken is to buy few million doses of Tamiflu. Disgusting!

After reading these messages clearly there is an impression of absolute panic. Few cold facts
1)NO COUNTRY IN THE WORLD COULD CONTAIN IT OR ANY OTHER Respiratory VIRAL ILLNESS FOR THAT MATTER
2)More people are infected or dying of Malaria in our country everyday. More people are dying of road or rail accidents everyday. Dont be complacent but DONT panic.
3)It is just like seasonal cold , a self limiting disease. Most illnesses are mild.
Our health system both public or private is inadequate to deal with any illness if we cripple them due to our panic.

I am a doctor in Mumbai and today spent a couple of hours meeting with a few of general practitioners in my area. Everybody was aware and concerned about the illness but dint know our great government plans. So i distributed information pamphlets so that they could refer the indicated patients only (as per govt guidelines) to our one and only testing centre of the city. This calmed a lot of nerves. The media blitz had left them panicky and confused. These docs work till late at night and have barely ant time to know the ever changing stand of our government. I cannot cover the whole of Mumbai but will try and meet as many GPS in my spare time (hardly any). I hope the media encourages people to do the same amongst the common man. Education is the need of the hour, proper diagnosis & adequate treatment will follow.
Lets stop bashing our government and solving the problem ourselves.

what has transpired in the last couple of days is a reflection of an immature society. whenever an epidemic breaks out, one needs to take care of 4 aspects:
1) susceptible population and epidemiology of the disease
2) early diagnosis
3) treatment availability and delivery.
4) preventing spread.
looking at it pragmaticaly, whatever is possible is being done. it is easier to ask questions sitting in the discussion rooms to people who have overgrown their age working for the health care sector in india.
the idea to have discussions is to make people more AWARE. i would suggest rather than sensationalizing the issue which the media is doing at present and harming the cause rather than helping it, romp in experts who can spread awareness regarding the disease; make a documentary on swine flu and spread the message.perhaps that would be more helpful; but sadly less money spinning.
saumil dholakia
psychiatrist

No healthcare system in any part of the world is "adequately" prepared to fight an epidemic of this dimension. health care professionals are neck deep in to their work in normal circumstances,health infrastructure in western countries is at times even more pathetic, waiting period to see a consultant runs in to months.Indian Doctors routinely deal with malaria, enteric fever, HIV etc , mind you these infections are much more life threatening then swine flu, at this point of time - society, media and politicians need to stand behind doctors and health infrastructure. There is no need to panic, swine flu rarely kills- our doctors are competent and it is very easy to acquire additional infrastructure to diagnose swine flu.

I have few suggestions:

1)Trust your doctors and give them all the support that is necessary.

2) identify private hospitals - many of them are already well equipped , if needed provide additional infrastructure.

3) Media should refrain from creating undue hype, DO NOT undermine your health care professionals- Doctors are at the highest risk of swine flu,keep up their morale- you can not do without them in any case.

4) Government is doing their best- provide constructive criticism

Not at all, previous Health Minister was pre occupied in only banning cigerates and liqour in cinemas and spent too much energy against the film stars, such stupid minister if we have, than what better we can expect during emergencies like the current scenario.
I hope we have more sensible, practical and committed indivual who takes up minister, it is not necessary that elected member or particular party is definately chosen, somebody who has outstanding country wide as doctor, nurse or socilagist or educationalist, a true indian should be given such coveted ministry who realizes and forecasts the dangers and precautions necessary prior any incident happens , but in our country every time they get into fire fighting excercise and in the result is zero and so many innocents lose their life due to such miseries or poor goverance.
I hope we have sensible and committed members and the PM and Chair person, and our lover boy Rahul Gandhi consider this important ministry where he/she has very important role to play in uniforming the health problems nation wide and every citizen is covered irrespective of their culture, creed, or religion or financial status but he/she should have health card which should be compulsory and connected to the local civil hospitals.

It is sad that my parents gave birth to me in India. After paying huge income TAX I cannot get a basic medical facility in this country. The govt. officials instead of making a hype of Swine Flu must immediately call in private medical institutions to assist them in diagnosing the illness instead of passing nonsense remarks and doubting their credibility. Present situation proove the our Govt is not in a position to handle the situation, but can spend all the time and energy to give lectures which too do not make sense. If one does not fear death and gets Swine Flu it is wiser to die staying at home rather be at the mercy of the govt institutions in the present situation.