Tuesday 28 July 2009

Swine Flu (again)

What the hell is going on with this country? More people die in 1 week from road accidents than have died so far this year from swine flu, 56 people per week in 2007, http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1208 and the people who have died have in the huge majority had an underlying illness -see my last post. So why are we giving away prescription drugs to anyone who wants them? For years the medical profession have been trying to cut down on giving people antibiotics for the cold and now the government is giving away Tamiflu without it being necessary to even see a doctor or other prescriber. I have a question, if we are giving Tamiflu now when the Swine Flu is fairly mild, what are we going to do if it returns in the winter all new and improved and really nasty? And another thing, when I think of the hoops I had to jump through and the work I had to do, essays I wrote, exams I passed and the research I did just to be allowed to prescribe a couple of Paracetamol and Ibuprofen, why are people with a couple of hours training being allowed to prescribe?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here Here!!!! Its all gone completely cookoo!

Anonymous said...

'So why are we giving away prescription drugs to anyone who wants them? ...the government is giving away Tamiflu without it being necessary to even see a doctor or other prescriber.'

A colleague told me why the Government are very keen for us to prescribe Tamiflu to everyone who has a sniffle and a high temperature. You see, much of the stockpiled Tamiflu was laid in for the Bird Flu scare back in 2006-7 and it expires in Autumn this year, when it effectively and officially becomes useless (as opposed to being pretty useless anyway).

This is why they want to use it up ASAP.

Explains a lot, doesn't it!

Michael Guzzo said...

Lainey makes an interesting counterpoint in a similar statistical comparison on this side of the pond.

http://elainesplace.net/2009/07/u-s-adults-dying-of-preventable-diseases/

GrumpyRN said...

Well now anonymous, I had heard this and was not sure if it is true or not and wondered if it may be one of those urban myths that spring up. I had a look at our stock at work and surprise surprise; it expires later this year!

Dragonfly said...

Absolutely. And the number of people STILL getting amoxy to treat it is rather scary.

Garth Marenghi said...

indeed.

it's a massive government over reaction.

they do it to pretend that they can be useful when they are not of any use to anyone.

it's classic over controlling state behaviour, if you hype up non existent dangers then you can make yourself appear to be a savious when the dangers are stifled by your pretence at action.

Garth Marenghi said...

saviour! not savious

Garth Marenghi said...

saviour! not savious

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