HC pulls up govts for relying on passengers’ self-declaration

“Which is the authority entrusted with checking passengers? How would one know if passengers had Ebola?” asked the judges.
Appearing for the Central government, Rui Rodrigues said medical officers have been deployed in Bombay, Pune, Nagpur and Aurangabad.

However, the court was of the view that merely deploying medical officers was not enough. “You are only relying on self declaration by passengers. Some screening has to be done to find out if  passengers have any symptoms of Ebola,” the court said.

The state’s affidavit, filed by Dr Satish Pawar, Director, Directorate of Health Services, on August 13 this year, stated that they convened a meeting with all heads of different departments concerned including the civic body.

The helpline numbers for people in Mumbai and other parts of the state are 022-24114000 and 020-26125792, respectively.  In addition to this, ambulances have been put in place in Mumbai and Pune.  The director also said that three hospitals in Mumbai, two in Pune and one each in Aurangabad and Nagpur with a total of 85 beds have been set up for suspected and critically ill cases. Dr Pawar said all four airports in the state that witness international arrivals have ambulances.

“If the medical team at the airport apprehends or suspects any Ebola affected patient, then the ambulance facility has been directed to transfer the suspected patient to Jogeshwari Trauma Centre for isolation,” said Dr Pawar in the affidavit.

He further atated that after being transferred, blood sample of the patient is taken and immediately forwarded for testing to the National Institute of Virology in Pune. “Till the report is out, the patient, as per orders, will be kept  at the trauma centre. In case the report is negative the patient will be discharged but if it is positive the patient will be immediately shifted to Kasturba Hospital in the city,” Dr Pawar said. The seriously ill Ebola patients will be transferred to J J Hospital, the affidavit stated.

The director also said that equipment to deal with suspected cases of the epidemic was provided by the BMC, airport authorities and all isolation wards of the concerned hospitals to the health directorate.

“Neither state nor the Centre has been able to make the elementary statement that passengers are being checked at airport. What is the use of having facilities at hospitals if you allow them roam around,” said the court, and posted the hearing on Wednesday.

Activist Ketan Tirodkar has filed a PIL urging that India needed to ban the entry of any person travelling from west African countries to India, especially Mumbai.