Indian government caught unawares over flu pandemic

The recent outbreak of infections and death caused by the influenza A H1N1 strain across India has turned the spotlight on the country's ailing health care system. Questions have been raised about how the government has been caught unawares yet again, despite the 2009 pandemic, when India recorded 981 deaths and 27,236 infection cases over a period of seven months, reports The Pharma Letter’s India correspondent.

India has already witnessed a high rate of mortality in the current season, which is only two months old. The outbreak this time, which started late December 2014, has already left 1,239 people dead, and over 23,153 infected.

A prolonged winter and unseasonal rainfall across the country has made early detection and management of swine flu extremely challenging. Swiss pharma major Roche’s (ROG: SIX) Tamiflu (oseltamivir), a Schedule X drug, is available only on prescription.