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Coordination at the national level will help in the screening of suspected influenza patients.
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Delhi health minister Kiran Walia has called for a national level co-ordination committee for effective management of pandemics such as H1N1 influenza. The committee should consist of representatives from all states, private sector firms and the media, among others, she said.
Addressing a session on ‘Pandemic Preparedness’ at the India Economic Summit organised by the World Economic Forum and the Confederation of Indian Industry here, Walia said proper coordination at the national level will help in the screening of suspected influenza patients, treatment in both private and public hospitals, and also help plan media awareness programmes in a more effective manner.
The minister was critical of the initial response from the media towards reporting pandemic. “During the outbreak media reports caused unnecessary panic resulting in closure of schools and government facilities being chocked. Later on, media turned more responsible and the levels of panic were reduced,” she pointed out.
Supporting this view, Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India, said the concept of public-private partnerships should be extended in setting up a national level disease surveillance programme. “The last three decades have, on an average, seen at least one new pandemic every year. Most of them are diseases which spread from animals to human beings. One would require an effective early detection system and private sector can play a large role in establishing this surveillance programme,” he said.
Reddy wanted more private sector participation in the setting up of testing laboratories and hospital beds that are dedicated to handle cases like influenza.
Representatives of global pharmaceutical firms — Ramesh Subrahmanian, president, Asia Pacific Human Health, Merck and Co, and Kewal Handa, managing director of Pfizer India — called for government assurances to enable drug firms to invest more in stockpiling medicines for pandemics.
Appreciating the speed with which global drug firms responded to the need to develop vaccines for H1N1, Subrahmanian said there has never been a quicker response from industry. “Over 25 companies are very close to getting regulatory approvals for H1N1 vaccine,” he said, adding that companies would be looking at the business continuity to find their efforts make economic sense.
“The need to have a pandemic preparedness plan is important, but we should also create an advance market commitment to reduce economic risks”, Subrahmanian said. Reddy said the government has already expressed its willingness to make advance market commitments.
Thomas Schweins, vice-president, strategy and marketing and member of the executive committee of QIAGEN, Germany, expressed the views of the diagnostic industry in handling pandemics.
Pandemic flu is known to be among the biggest risks to the global society, with damaging economic consequences. The conference discussed Delhi’s response to the H1N1 pandemic and attempted to suggest a national framework to fight the pandemic in future.
Currently, health services in India are organised at the state level and vary from state to state. The speakers stressed the need for better communication to disseminate scientific facts among the public to avoid panic.
There is a need to share experience and knowledge at a global level. India can gain from examining best practice in other countries, they said.