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I know it has been a really long time since I last posted but dear readers it was for many reasons, to begin with I was really busy and I really couldn’t find time to write anything, then there was the internet censorship thing and later I received a threat from an international organization aimed to kill Iraqis!!
But here am I again…please spread the word.
Let’s begin with the explosion thing, I’m sure most of you haven’t heard about explosions in Baghdad for some time and even if you hear that there was an explosion you wouldn’t hear the accurate number of them or where they happened or how many were killed…well, most recently there was an explosion in Adhamiya/ Raghiba Khatoon (known as Camp) by a wired car that targeted the leader of the awakening in that area and lead to the death of many people and severe damage to the buildings nearby including the clinic of a colleague who miraculously didn’t die…there were many explosions and terrorism activities that happened but sure there is no time to mention all of them, but let’s start from now and on.
Generally, Iraqis now are concerned more about the Swine flu (Influenza type A H1N1) than explosions and terrorism! Everybody even the physicians are clueless! No One knows what to do and there is a general situation of panic among the people.
The ministry of health is doing nothing about it and in a state of denial, with a very strong media coverage to make the people believe Iraq is swine flu free…they should at least give lectures to the Doctors and the medical career workers about this hard to diagnose disease.
People are coming in dozens to the governmental hospital I work in now to seek advice and to check and if anyone wants to check he must come to a normal hospital and the hospital will give him a paper to go to the central laboratories and then he will be sent to some laboratories for the WHO who will take swabs and see if they have it or not!! Damn bureaucracy, this procedure will take about 5 days!! If the patient didn’t die during that time he will spread it to hundreds of people who will spread it to another hundreds…many parents are refusing to send their kids to schools and they are even thinking of skipping this year…many schools have told their students that they will not be able to come to school unless they bring a report from the hospital that they are not infected with swine flu and they come to us but the problem is that we haven’t received any official or non-official instructions about dealing with the situation.
And the really sad thing is that they haven’t provided us with the simplest equipments to protect ourselves like the effective masks (filter masks) , it’s well known that the first to be protected is the medical staff since they will be the ones who are in direct contact with the effected and may be the cause of the disease outbreak.
And if I want to continue talking about the state of denial the health ministry is living in I would not finish, all they care about is the show business.
Sadly, the humans have no rights or value in the land where the first human’s law were established.
15 comments:
Big welcome back Mohammed.
Swine flu is being blown WAY out of proportion. For the most part the only people who die from it are those that already had a pre-existing condition (or were really old). In other words, the same kind of people who die from the normal flu. Here in America (the last time I checked at least) more people have died of the normal flu than the swine flu! (And even then, we're only talking somewhere in the neighborhood of maybe 50 people in a year in the whole country).
So I really wouldn't worry about swine flu at all; you are probably hundreds of times more likely to die of a bomb or just an ordinary car accident as you are to die of swine flu.
P.S. And as JG said "Big welcome back"!
I'd like to second what Jeremy says. There is no need for general panic.
Swine flu H1N1, so far (ie unless it mutates), is only potentially dangerous for pregnant women, people on immuno-suppressants (such as cancer patients), and others with a pre-existing medical condition. It does seem to attack deeper in the lungs than other flu types but although some of the symptoms are unpleasant most people should get through it with the usual bed rest, lots to drink and ibuprofen. Young people, up to the age of about 35, seem to get a worse reaction than older people because they don't already have antibodies from earlier flu outbreaks.
Taking Tamiflu is said to reduce the duration of the illness by only one day and has side effects and, anyway, is made by Dick Cheney's company; and I for one am not going to increase his share profits.
I can understand parents not wanting to send their children to school because once one child in the class catches H1N1 then the whole class is likely to catch it, in the same way as an ordinary cold goes through the whole class.
Oh, and there is only one mask that effectively keeps out H1N1 and it is far too expensive for ordinary people to buy even in the well-equipped, relatively well to do West. It has to be changed three times a day, and last time I looked each mask cost about 10 pounds.
One measure that hospitals and doctors' surgeries here have adopted which seems a good idea: there are big signs up outside saying Do not enter if you have swine flu or have been in contact with anyone who has swine flu.
Thank you guys for welcoming back...and a big thank you for the great and valuable info about the flu...it really made things easier for me because as you know I'm a dentist and my work forces me to be in close contact with people and I was a bit worried...
Salam
Hearty and rapturous Welcome back Muhammad (my namesake)...I seriously thought something bad had happened to you, but alhamdulillah you seem doing just fine.
Keep up the great articles, the world really needs to know what the media won't say in countries like yours.
May Allah protect you and your country.
WELCOME BACK! I wondered what happened to you Neighbour!
H1N1 is being taken seriously by the public health authorities here in Canada.
Sufficient vaccine is being produced to give to the entire population of the country. Priority is going to medical personnel and the most vulnerable groups (mentioned by Indigo above).
While I would agree that there is no cause for undue panic, nevertheless just yesterday there was a case in my province of a young woman, with no other adverse health conditions, dying of H1N1 complications. So there's no cause for complacency, either.
Good to see you back. I was getting bored with the flag photo. :-)
Welcome back dr.!!
malyon hala w marhaba.
we missed your posts 3eni ;)
Thank God you are safe.
I'm so sorry and sad to know all this about health ministry in Iraq, its really the one i hope works well. but no help is there.:(
:(
take care while you are working, and best wishes for your wife and baby!
Welcome back Mohammed. I'd agree the Swine Flu scare is blown out of proportion. Some early reports claimed it would infect 400.000 people in Sweden by October. Well, October is soon ending and the "outbreak" has been limited to a few hundreds resulting in ONE death and maybe 10-20 people requiring intensive care.
There's mass vaccination planned but many people (around 40% of those polled) claim they might not bother with it. I'm not convinced myself that it's necessary.
What's this with the "threat from an international organization" you recieved? Or perhaps it's not something you can write about?
I was sorry to read about the most recent large bombings today.
/Marcus
Hope you are OK - heard today about the bombs outside the government offices and the many fatalities.
Good to see you're back in writing. That's life, some times you just simply don't have any time to do what you'd like to do. Two interesting issues jumped from your article; cencorship and you also mentioned international organization threatning Iraqis. I'd really like to hear more about these issues.
All the best
Kevin
Dear Dr. Today is the first time I have read your writings. I cannot leave this blog until I respond. I would like to comment on your last paragraph....
remember - the GOD who created you, He knows you, and hears your pleas for help! You are living in the country where the first people were created, and you are of INFINITE value to Him, never forget that, even when evil governments do not value their people. Also, this world is not what we are living for, there is ETERNITY with our Creator for those who trust in the LORD JESUS CHRIST and His saving work.
~(:
H1N1 has been going around here since the university and public schools got back in session. Mostly it's young people who are getting infected. They've swabbed some of the people, but for the most part they assume if someone is sick with the flu symptoms of fever, aches, chills, sore throat, it's H1N1. It's too early for the other flu season here. I've known some people who have gotten really sick with difficulty getting over it, but they were people who are deconditioned to begin with. I also read that those who are the sickest also have something like strep throat. They main thing is handwashing and they say people should sneeze into the their elbow so as not to have germs on their hands that they spread. Since you are a dentist, wearing a mask and using gloves are pretty standard. Mostly, make sure you little one isn't exposed to crowds and coming into contact with sick people. Here they tell people to stay home from school or work if they are ill and most should stay home for about 10 days as this flu seems to abate and then hit the sufferer again.
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