Caught in the midst of the swine flu scare, Punekars travelling to other states are battling prejudice
Caught in the midst of the swine flu scare, Punekars travelling to other states are battling prejudice
Indians have grown extremely wary of their countrymen from Pune following the swine flu pandemic.
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Amruta Dhavale, an advocate from the city, was recently asked by people she interacted with in Indore and Bhopal to produce a medical certificate that proved she was H1N1 negative.
"People are wary because maximum deaths have been reported here," said Dhavale.
Bhushan Kelkar, patent engineer, IBM, who travels every week to Bangalore, said airport authorities in Karnataka are particularly cautious with people on board Pune-Bangalore flights and wear masks whenever a flight from Pune lands.
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However, as Dr Ashok Laddha, additional director, Nodal officer for Swine flu in Maharashtra pointed out, "Not everyone from Pune is carrying the H1N1 virus."
'Unfair' say docs
Dr Suresh Jadhav, executive director, Serum Institute of India Limited, said it was unfair to mistreat people from Pune just because the first death from swine flu In India occurred here.
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"Many people died across the world from the H1N1 virus. It is foolish to blame any particular city," Jadhav added.
Dr T S Cheluvaraju, head of the monitoring cell for swine flu in Karnataka too said that the practice was not right. "Travel patterns should be studied in order to fight swine flu, but it is unfair to discriminate," he said.
It maybe so, but the West Bengal government thinks otherwise. Dr Bhaskar Bhattacharya, Chamber of Joint Director (Health Services), West Bengal, said the government had plans to screen people travelling from Maharashtrian cities, especially Pune.
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