THE GOOD DOCTORS OF WHO

THE WHO’S CURRENT DIRECTOR-GENERAL, Dr Margaret Chan, appears to be one of those leaders in whom one can trust. Remarkably, the World Health Organization boss is actually a doctor. She also has experience in the field, gained while she was Director of Health of Hong Kong for nine years, where she launched new services to prevent the spread of disease and managed outbreaks of avian influenza and of severe acute respiratory syndrome.

YET HER RECORD may not suffice to deal with the mounting challenge that has burst the sty and boarded the Boeing, so to speak. She was grim-faced in her announcement yesterday that worse things are to come, even in “effluent” (sic) nations. We all hope that the good doctor will be able to put a timely end to this problem, but I would suggest reinforcements are needed.

DEALING WITH TROUBLE OF EPIDEMIC PROPORTIONS has been the job since time began of Doctor Who, a mysterious, shape-changing character who is regularly called in to save the Earth from whatever threat is on the horizon or already on the screen, and this doctor, indeed, has specific skills in dealing with this type of problem.

DURING THE GREAT DEPRESSION, in “Daleks in Manhattan”, Dr Who faced the threat of a hybrid, mutated race called the Pig Slaves, who were humans who had been turned into pigs due to being of low intelligence. The Pig Slaves captured subjects for Dalek experiments. Some of these pigs hid in Broadway theatres, where they enjoyed the shows. Also, they were “extremely aggressive and virulent, but short-lived”, terms I seem to have heard recently about swine influenza A H1N1.

ALL ENDS WELL, MORE OR LESS, as is usual with Dr Who, when Who uses his “Time Lord DNA” to put an end to the mischief and escape into oblivion. Who warns, however, that the danger may not be over and that the Daleks and their pigmen may return. Something like what WHO has been saying in statements recently from the good Dr Chan’s camp. “Even if it goes away now, it may be back stronger in the Autumn.”