July 20, 2004

 

Thailand Criticised Over Latest Bird Flu Outbreaks

Thailand has failed to learn critical lessons from its last major bird flu crisis, politicians and health officials warned amid allegations that secrecy and inaction were putting more lives at risk.

 

The outbreak this year killed millions of birds, 16 people in Vietnam and eight in Thailand.

 

The government this month conceded the deadly virus had struck again at a poultry farm north of the capital. It was accused of waiting almost two weeks to go public with the news.

 

Since then the government has confirmed fresh outbreaks in 15 provinces, which critics say might have been prevented by a swifter response.

 

"They should have announced it immediately after the new outbreaks were discovered," Thai senator Kraisak Choonhavan told AFP, adding a failure to do so had put the public at risk.

 

"They are too concerned about exports when the market will find out anyway," said Kraisak, who heads Thailand's senate committee on foreign affairs.

 

Thailand's poultry exports -- the world's fourth largest -- earned 1.2 billion dollars last year.

 

"Many people are fed up with the ineffective way the government is handling this bird flu crisis to covertly protect the country's image," said Kraisak.

 

The government was widely criticised in January for allegedly covering up an outbreak for months by insisting it was chicken cholera.

 

Thailand only admitted to the outbreak after two boys in provinces east of Bangkok contracted the deadly H5N1 strain of avian influenza.

 

Since the latest outbreaks were announced earlier this month Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has sought to play down the crisis, saying outbreaks were appearing only sporadically across the country's 76 provinces.

 

However amid a sense of growing crisis, key ministers met to discuss bird flu Monday and Thai share prices closed down 0.62 percent Monday partly because of the outbreaks, said dealers.

 

Vietnam and China have also reported cases of bird flu and Cambodia is on high alert.

 

Government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair has insisted the go-softly approach was not about protecting exports or the country's image.

 

"We don't release information with a lot of publicity because we don't want the public to be overly panicked," Jakrapob told AFP.

 

"But we are handling the bird flu situation having learned from our previous experience in handling the outbreak," he said.

 

So far the government's main bid to tackle the fresh outbreaks has been to announce a committee that will look into the matter.

 

The committee will study the possibility of using vaccinations in critical areas to try to stem the spread of the flu, although officials are unconvinced over its use. Some importers are unwilling to buy chickens from countries where vaccine is used.