Sunday, August 30, 2009

Fiction-Heavy PM Asks That We Stick to The Facts

With respect to the H1N1. He even went on to warn us of an unmitigated disaster if Tamiflu was doled out irresponsibly. If that's not an indication of what he thinks of the judgement of doctors in Mauritius in general I don't know what it is. For sure we all know one or two people with medical training who are complete idiots or who are not exactly Barnards or Penfields -- if you don't know what an idiot is. But I don't think it's fair to people who spend long and difficult years studying how the human body works.

And he said that after holding two press conferences within a few days to tell us that we had 5 dead and barely 50 confirmed cases. Parents with an internet connection or relatives with one of course didn't buy into this fiction and decided to keep their kids at home while Jeetah and colleagues were busy looking for the iceberg in the wrong places. The number of confirmed cases has now risen by a factor of 1,300 in just a few days. And government is reopening schools tomorrow because August 31st is a Monday and as everybody knows nothing keeps potentially deadly viruses like the H1N1 away as the first business day of the week.

Were we deliberately misled so that tourists are not scared off and some bean-counter somewhere does not get up in the middle of the night crying about some dumb growth rate number? Even if that meant counting more deads that we should have? Or was it Ramgoolam, after entertaining the fiction that SSR had something to do with free education, serving us some more of the good stuff?
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5 comments:

  1. Kozémotandé31 August, 2009 13:45

    Dodoland, nevermind its smallness, is fast becoming very famous for its propensity to demean the importance of its own citizens. Domanik Murugan peut croupir en prison en Turquie sans que l'état mauricien ne s'en offusque. Sarkozy entre temps n'est pas resté les bras croisés. Aniket Ramgoolam est battu régulièrement par son beau-père. Les autorités sont au courant à travers ses agences crées pour protéger les enfants mais rien n'est fait. Le petit Ramgoolam comme tant d'autres avant lui y laisse sa vie. Il faudra un jour établir la responsabilité de ces agences, y compris le ministère de tutelle dans les trop nombreux cas de maltraitance et d'abus rapportés mais fatalement ignorés. La grippe A emporte (officiellement)sept personnes dans son sillage. Le nombre de touristes et le taux de croissance sont mis en avant pour ne pas dire la vérité et accroitre ainsi la surveillance. Putting people first? Il faudra nous le prouver autrement.

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  2. nav01 September, 2009 01:14

    Tourists have most probably come from countries where h1n1 has already had an effect. Mauritius has been extremely lucky in that it has taken this for the public to become infected. Tourism has not been that affected.

    I, honestly, believe the PM has done the best he can. There are not enough resources to diagnose all those with 'suspected' cases and at the same time tamiflu cannot be handed out to people on a first come first served basis! Shutting down the schools is a measure that has been taken to try to do something, to give the public the notion that positive actions are being done. At the same time, inaccurate information publicised in the media and online has driven people to a state of paranoiac panic. 5 deaths you say?...i believe there was a time people were predicting many many more people would die..

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  3. Bruno11 September, 2009 13:58

    lol someone seemed to dislike the timing of the publication of this article in Le Mauricien: http://www.defimedia.info/blogs/302/Free-distribution-of-venom.html

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  4. Sanjay Jagatsingh11 September, 2009 18:34

    lol. He brought Father Laval into the debate and went into this swear-on-head thing for lack of anything valid to say I guess.

    I left a comment there about an hour ago.

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  5. Sanjay Jagatsingh30 May, 2017 23:21

    H1N1 is back. And has already claimed two lives. Are we better managing it this time around?

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