Comments on: Chikungunya and Dengue outbreaks show failure of public health system

By: haleem

haleem — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 22:13:36 +0000

The health ministry of Maldives is more concerned about fall in tourist arrival than about human suffering, when it comes to epidemics such as these. A case in point; a recent article in one of the dailies mentioned the health minister’s concern about the the negative effect that bird flu would have on the tourism industry. That the real reason why bird flu is taken so seriously taken by health authorities all over the world is, it’s potential for a pandemic killing millions of people, is perhaps not know to the minister.

By: Global Voices Online » Blog Archive » Maldives struggles with Chikungunya

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 11:01:19 +0000

[…] Maldives Today accuses the government of reacting slowly to this outbreak and not taking appropriate measures to combat the disease. The government of Maldives did not react to an outbreak of Chikungunya in Kerela state in India in October 2006. The affected areas in Kerela included Trivandrum or Thiruvananthapuram, which is the most popular Indian destination among Maldivians going there for medical treatment and vacation. Daily flights between Trivandrum and Male’ carry Indian workers and travelers and Maldivians. It may be a matter of a few days for a disease to reach the Maldives from Trivandrum. Any outbreak of a disease in that part of India should have been taken as a serious issue. […]

By: coxsharp

coxsharp — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 16:51:20 +0000

I would like to point out that the first maldivian media outlet to bring out or inform us about chikungunya was from Dr. Niyaf (http://niyaf.blogspot.com/)in October 2006, when the Maldivian health authorities and the shadow Maldive health ministers were .ahem..sleeping.

He mentions in his “support groups” blog that the Maldivian authorities have been alerted by the international authorities? regarding the spread of the viral illness in neighbouring countries even before? it found the shores of Maldives.

I quote from maldivestoday.com: “We have reliable information that cases of Chikungunya were found in the Maldives even before November 2006.”

I was wondering how maldivestoday.com came to know of the cases of chikungunya before November when no tests were carried during that time to confirm the illness,that is, if there were any cases. If maldivestoday.com had any hard reliable evidence that shows that chikungunya was apparent before november, i and am sure many others would like to know on the “reliable information” you are referring to as this has become a national emergency now and it would help in combating the illness.

How ever it is likely that chikungunya MIGHT have been prevalent in the society without anyone noticing it before the test results.I am not saying that doctors might have not suspected of chikungunya.

It would have been a silly thing if the Maldive authorities said that it is chikungunya with out knowing any test results and later finding that it is somekind of rheumatoid fever or some other illness that manifests the same kind of symptoms. Although i agree that if it was suspected of chikungunya, the authorities should have acted more quickly and swiftly in attaining the results from overseas before the situation, as expected with an illness like this with an overcrowded population in male’, got out of control.

On the other hand i agree that that the Maldive authorities have kept it quiet and should have acted swiftly and alerted the public and taken measures to handle an out break when the “international authorities” have warned them in the first place of a disease loitering in the neighboring countries and even after the out break they should have taken appopriate measures and followed the best practice guidelines.

Now the situation has become out of control and i would not be surprised to see if the already crumbled health system evaporating in front of our very own eyes. It is only a matter of time.

Rather than taking a political advantage and political bickering on this issue i think there lies a responsibility on both sides of the spectrum to the public, which i am sure everyone knows.