Bird flu

While banning of imports from a number of countries is a move in the right direction it may still sneak in. There are also countries in the neighbourhood that are in the same ecological and climatic zones conducive to flocking of migratory birds and are also prone to the outbreak of the disease. It may therefore be a good idea to set a proactive consultative and mutually beneficial programme of various preventive measures. Our public health services should also monitor vigorously the incidence of any disease in commercial poultry firms. Our health inspectors should also check and prevent public sale of migratory and exotic pet birds. We should also launch an extensive media campaign towards building a public awareness about the deadly virus and its symptoms and effects.

In the meantime the planned import of 5000 doses of drugs for treatment of the disease from Roche of Switzerland is most appropriate. However, the cost of the drugs being high (about Tk.1800 for treating a single case) the government must also have a contingency plan for making the drug available at affordable and much reduced price, when needed. Our Directorate of Health should therefore negotiate with WHO for allocation of an appropriate quantity of drugs at reduced price out of its buffer stock of three million doses for which it has already entered into an agreement with Roche.

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The signal given by WHO and the rising incidences of the deadly diseases in various parts of the world should raise our concerns to the optimum.