What did the Indian media do before H5N1 came along? The flood of stories never slackens. Nor does the spat between New Delhi and the West Bengal state government. Via Express India.com: Over 2000 complain of fever, govt says ‘it means nothing.’ Excerpt:
About 2,324 cases of people suffering from fever have been reported from the Birbhum district — Ground Zero of the bird flu outbreak in the state — in the last five days.
“The West Bengal Government is failing to understand the gravity of the situation,” said Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare P Lakshmi, during a visit to Birbhum on Tuesday.
Lakshmi, who is currently in the state to get a first hand assessment of the culling operations, did not find adequate health infrastructure to combat the bird flu threat. She criticised the state government for acting irresponsibly and lacking seriousness to fight the disease.
“There is no infrastructure, not even qualified doctors. We have sent pills and gear but the required equipment is not in place till date. They do not understand that this is an emergency situation and they should be prepared for it,” she added.
She blamed the state Animal Resource Development department for the spread of the virus to new areas, as it did not carry out culling operations in a swift manner.
The state government, however, maintained that there has been no case of H5N1 virus infecting humans, and tried to play down its own figures of fever cases in Birbhum.
“There is no need to panic. We do not have any reports of humans being infected. Therefore, a few hundred fever cases means nothing,” said Sanchita Bakshi, state director health services.
Tracking Indian media reports on H5N1 is like trying to drink from the proverbial fire hose. But I admire Indian reporters' style: "about 2,324 cases"; government officials going "into a tizzy." No bogus "objectivity" about these folks—they've got an opinion about what they report, and it's part of the story.
