# 2065
In what can only be described as a scathing review of Canada's pandemic preparedness, an upcoming editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal calls Canada's epidemic surveillance and reporting systems a `national embarrassment.
And from there, the lead author's criticisms only grow more strident. Quoting from the article:
"It's literally true that if a bird flu crisis hits tomorrow, Ottawa is better prepared to defend the geese than it is to defend Canadians," Mr. Attaran says. "You'd rather be a Canadian goose than a Canadian person in a bird flu outbreak, it's embarrassing to say."
Well, the author is certainly not pulling any punches.
A Hat tip to Shiloh on Flutrackers for posting this article.
This excerpt is from a story carried by the National Post. Follow the link to read the entire article.
Epidemic response better for poultry than people: report
Sharon Kirkey, Canwest News Service
Published: Thursday, June 12, 2008
If a deadly epidemic were to hit tomorrow, poultry would be better protected than people under federal laws, Canada's top medical journal warns.
The Canadian Medical Association Journals calls it a "national embarrassment" that 12 of the 13 provinces and territories are under no obligation to share information with the federal government or the rest of Canada during a disease outbreak.
In an editorial released ahead of print Thursday, the journal says a massive epidemic or pandemic "could kill tens, or hundreds of thousands of Canadians within weeks or months."
Yet the federal government and provinces can't agree on how they would share crucial information, a situation the journal says has reached a "ridiculous, potentially tragic, level."
"If there is another epidemic of a SARS kind or an avian influenza kind, Canada is, among developed countries, probably the worst prepared," says Amir Attaran, Canada Research Chair in law, population health and global development policy at the University of Ottawa and lead author of the editorial.
"And it's for bureaucratic reasons. It's not that our scientists are incompetent, it's not that our doctors can't do great things or our hospitals are poorly equipped. It's simply for the fact that, in an emergency, time equals lives."
