Snowy Owl
Retired in 2010, In Memoriam
The conflict prevails between public and private health. The minister of Health, Satish Faugoo, continues to insist that the number of chikungunya cases is dropping while private doctors have the opposite impression. As official statistics reveal a fall in the number of cases, they can?t prove their point. But the general feeling is definitely that the virus still rages.
MoH statistics reveal that 121 cases were recorded on 4th, 5th and 6th April compared to 1,407 cases on the same dates in March. This leads minister Faugoo to conclude that ?the situation is under control?. According to regional public health superintendent, Amita Pathack, the feeling that there is a growing number of cases comes from the ?traumatic? factor of the chikungunya as well as from the new daily cases. ?The chikungunya is under control and has a tendency to drop even though we still record new cases everyday,? she explains.
But private doctors do not share this point of view. They believe that many people prefer to go directly to pharmacies to buy medicines now that pharmacists are able to give them proper treatment. A family with many members affected by the disease would use the same prescription for the pharmacy, for instance.
However, in such a situation, people infected with the disease should be very careful, as some pharmacists do not hesitate to make cortisone injections without prescription. Doctors have warned that this could have dangerous side-effects on some patients if they take cortisone at the highest stage of the disease. In any case, it appears safer to go and consult? And this would help for official statistics as well.