Chikungunya divides public and private health

[Snowy Owl]

Chikungunya divides public and private health
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The ministry of Health has insisted that the number of people infected with chikungunya is decreasing but the public feeling is quite different. This feeling has been reinforced by the statement of private doctors who say many patients still come to see them. Who is telling the truth? Probably both, actually?

?The chikungunya is definitely still there. And it is not decreasing?, maintains the president of the Private Medical Practitioners Association (PMPA), Dr Mohamad Isshaq Jowahir. According to him and two of his colleagues, the number of patients coming to see them ?with obvious clinical signs? of the disease is far from dropping like official statistics tend to show.

Yet, the ministry asserts that it is not hiding any statistics and that its data reflects reality. This must be true as well. According to Dr Jowahir, people infected with the disease are less keen on doing tests and even going to the hospital for treatment. Many go to private doctors and others use the treatment given to one of their relatives without getting any medical advice. Hence, it becomes extremely difficult to get a precise record of the real number of cases.

Even though private doctors are supposed to communicate their statistics - the number of patients with suspected signs of chikungunya - to the ministry, they might not be doing it. But, according to the PMPA president, this is due to the bad organisation of the public sector; ?the collaboration between the public and private sector is not as it should be?, he explains. However, the ministry denies it and asserts that this collaboration ?works really well?.

While the relations are getting more strained between the public and private sector, the chikungunya is having other negative consequences that have to be tackled quickly. The number of tourist arrivals has dropped during the last months and the hotel industry is quite worried.


Impact on the economy

Although they all agree that there has been an impact on the arrivals, they look optimistic about the future. ?Tourism has not stopped, it has only slowed down?, stated Mika?l Le Luron from Beachcomber group. As for the minister of Tourism, Xavier-Luc Duval, ?statistics tend to show that the situation will be nearly back to normal in April. We have come over the worse.?

It is true that the director of the World Health Organisation allayed the anxiety linked to the chikungunya when he was in Mauritius a few weeks ago. But, as the ministry of Health rightly points out, this is not a reason to drop our guard. This can be achieved by showing that the fight against the chikungunya will stop only when there is no longer any risk for the international community to be worried?