In every crisis there is opportunity

Current attempts to control the spread of the AH1N1 flu virus is equivalent to bailing water with a vegetable strainer. The enemy is invisible, often late when detected and highly transmittable. To complicate matters, the very cause of transmission, humans, are ignorant about the virus and have no appreciation of the real threat it poses on us.

After killing several scores of people in Mexico and the United States, you would think that everyone would appreciate the double time duty of people in the Department of Health particularly Secretary Francisco Duque.

Instead of “thanks”, some malicious or socially irresponsible people have actually made comments that are simply uncalled for. To even insinuate that Duque is taking advantage of the health crisis in order to increase his public recognition is petty and immature. In the face of AH1N1, such comments are criminal.

We have a public health crisis along with several nations around the globe. We are fortunate enough that our department of health has been on the ball concerning various threats. Since Day 1, when we were faced with the SARS virus. Given our physical and social conditions, the DOH has risen to the task of preventing a major disaster involving Dengue. When the Avian flu or “Bird flu” became a regional concern, the DOH was at the “Top of the Class” around Asia in educating the public.

The same team has been all out dealing with the AH1N1 virus. At the very least “if you’re not part of the solution, don’t be part of the problem”.

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Unfortunately, AH1N1 is popping up in all the wrong places such as schools, universities and private offices where human traffic is the equivalent of a mass transit for plagues.

When I started this article I wondered what sort of immunity politicians have since there has been no reported cases of the flu in Congress.

Unfortunately the first case in the Lower House resulted in “the first death from complications” of a staff of the Congressional Committee on Education which led to the “voluntary quarantine” of 3,000 employees of the House of Representatives.

If Representatives or Senators come down with the flu, we would all be listening to half hour newscasts instead of one hour and all the newspapers will be several pages thinner.

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Anyway, back to the “human” factor.

Ignorance is dangerous enough but we often disregard the risks we face as long as we get to do our regular routine. The situation is further aggravated by selfish companies who shamelessly add to the fear and the paranoia just to sell “health products” — hand sanitizer, thermometers, surgical masks, or “flu relief medicine” which are nothing more than muscle relaxants, vitamins or paracetamol.

Even the much talked about “flu vaccines” did not protect a member of the Philippine football delegation to Singapore. As the saying goes “in every crisis there is opportunity”.

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In line with Congressman Ruffy Biazon’s legislation creating a “Medical Crisis Authority”, the crisis could be an agent of change.

Since many schools are going dizzy suspending classes every time they have an AH1N1 case, why don’t we push back the academic calendar to buy time for de-bugging?

This way, we would have ample time to educate everybody on how to “de-bug” themselves, stay flu-free and ultimately reduce the risks of mass exposure. This solves the problem of having to suspend classes while putting us in sync with International schools.

While we push back the academic calendar, everybody can be enlisted especially the KBP to order mandatory broadcast of educational materials regarding how to avoid the spread of AH1N1 virus, and not commercials that scare us to buy questionable health products.

Instead of political ads, politicians should launch campaigns about cleanliness such as handwashing, not spitting or urinating anywhere (like dogs), carrying handkerchiefs and about not being boors in public.

The DILG and DTI can require malls, arenas, fun parks etc, to add thermal scans to the current system of frisking and using metal detectors, or sniffer dogs and to KEEP OUT STUDENTS!

Our kids stay healthy and our wallet and credit cards won't be subject to commercial abuse.

While on the topic, shouldn’t we review the existing policies on absences of employees as well as the “mandated” number of school days a student “must have” for every school year? As a graduate of the University of the Philippines, I recall several courses or subjects that were not dependent on your attendance but on your ability or discipline to self-study and pass the required quizzes or exams.

Our obsession with attendance or absences, borders on stupidity if not lethal inflexibility. Many employees as well as students have spread “Sore eyes or conjunctivitis”, other forms of the flu, or chicken pox because they were afraid of running out of the allowed number of absences, or medical leaves.

Attendance requirements have precluded sanity and safety. We need to realize that our employment and academic policies are doing more harm than good.

Even before we have solved the problem of AH1N1, DepEd and school officials are already talking about Saturday and Sunday classes. These people obviously never heard of “Home Schooling”. Apparently they are also atheists who do not share our beliefs that Sundays (or if you’re Jewish, Saturdays) are days of worship.

Such people either don’t have a life or have only half a brain. They could be legally brain dead for lack of imaginative solutions or a certifiable hazard to public health.

And IF the “Health Crisis Authority” comes to life, their motto should be the Singaporean policy: Our job is to implement solutions, not to explain them”.