No H1N1 screening facility at airport
So far, neither the airport authority nor the health department has taken any step to take precautions.
3 min read
Crowded places, such as airports, are ‘danger zones’ .
At a time when swine flu toll is rising in the state and in the city, the Lohegaon airport here has no facility to screen the passengers — both domestic and international — flying into the city, as done for Ebola. Many airports in the country have set up screening facilities and deployed experts to screen swine flu patients and help stop further spread of the deadly virus, but the state’s health department is yet to issue such instructions.
Last year, during the outbreak of Ebola, the health department and the airport authority had set up a system to check the passengers coming to Pune from cities affected by the disease. Initially, a team of doctors was using a manual system, asking the passengers to voluntarily give details of their medical condition. Later, based on guidelines set by the Bombay High Court, a thermal scanner that helps detect body temperature variations and accurately traces whether the passenger is suffering from fever, was installed at the airport.
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So far, despite increasing scare over H1N1 virus, neither the airport authority nor the health department has taken any step to take precautions.
Manoj Gangal, Airport Director, said it was the responsibility of the state government and he had not received any directive from the Airports Authority of India.
Other officials, who did not wish to be named, said the only reason the screening was not happening was due to absence of directives.
“There’s no denying that there’s a need for screening of passengers who are coming from cities such as Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Bangalore. The present team of doctors and nurses screening the passengers for Ebola can be asked to screen passengers for swine flu too. If the disease is detected, passengers can be admitted to hospitals and treated. Passengers can be screened while boarding, so that others don’t get infected. However, the state government has not given any directive and hence no screening is happening,” said an official.
Dr Kanchan Jagtap, Joint Director of Health Services, Maharashtra, said Pune airport authorities had taken steps to test for swine flu, “since “H1N1 virus has entered endemic stage” now, it’s no longer a foreign disease and there was no need to screen those flying in. “However, the situation can be reviewed and if need be such a facility will be set up at the airport,” he said.
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