THE GOVERNMENT? -- I THINK NOT.

"I have returned"

A year and a half, that was all it took for H5N1 to rear its head again in Malaysia and there was never any doubt that its next visit would be sooner than expected. So in between those intervening months, did the Agriculture and Agro base Ministry together with the Health Ministry move forward in its operational preparations? The Health Ministry announced that “anti–viral doses” for 60,000 people were already in stock in December 2005…right, for 0.27% of the population. These are not even enough for all the titled big-shots and their families in Malaysia as their entitlement to the drugs would probably come first - if the flu pandemic hits us.
I guess the question should be, “Are we the common people prepared for the pandemic to come?”. The government certainly isn't.

Even SMEs get help on coping with flu crisis

Singapore - Absenteeism rates could rise as high as 20 per cent at small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) if a flu pandemic hits Singapore.To help small businesses cope with such a situation, the Government has launched a guide to help SMEs draft business continuity plans in a crisis.."We need to think ahead, translate the awareness into real action and maybe rehearse plans to see how they turn out, as if avian flu hits us as there's little time to react. So it pays to think through the plans, write it down and rehearse so when buttons are pressed, things move," said Mr Chan Soo Sen, Minister of State for Trade and Industry.Jason Electronics, a company with 110 staff, has already drawn up a flu crisis plan which includes a back-up IT server to ensure work can still go on.....The guide offers tips for employees and other stakeholders such as suppliers on what they can do during each alert level.Two thousand copies of the guide, which will be available online, will be distributed free to the various chambers of commerce

Link : TODAYonLine