Screening counters set up at two airports

Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has established screening counters at Karachi and Islamabad airports to check Ebola suspects coming from various destinations, including West African countries. A spokesman for the CAA told Business Recorder on Saturday that although the authority is a service provider and not directly dealing with Ebola virus disease, it has installed thermo-scan machines at two airports to collect information from passengers.
Moreover, health counters have been set up at Karachi and Islamabad airports with help of the health ministry, the spokesman added. Sources said that the passengers whose first destination is West African countries like Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone have been put on 21 day observations. "People coming from the West African countries are kept under observation to keep a close eye on the Ebola disease," they said.
Pakistan is at a high risk of having Ebola virus disease as most international airlines operating in its airspace are not complying with the requirement (under national and international regulations) of collecting information on passenger health status, while the airport health department is incapable of facing the challenge. Information on health status of international passengers is the first tool at an airport to prevent spread of infectious disease in another country. This information is provided by passengers by filling forms provided by the airline and, then, by the pilot-in-command/authorised agent, who is required to fill a general declaration form, seeking details about any sick passenger on board. No such procedures, however, are being followed in Pakistan, sources deplored.
"If there is a health emergency as in this case, a third form is needed to be filled under the International Health Regulations 2005," an official of CAA said, adding that provision of information on international passenger health status was mandatory under national and international laws. The Ebola virus disease, a highly dangerous infection has, so far, claimed lives of nearly 4,500 people, most of them in West Africa, since its outbreak a few months ago. The worst affected countries are Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, though a few cases were reported in Nigeria, eight in Europe, one in Senegal and two in the US.
According to the sources, Pakistan denied entry to at least one confirmed case of Ebola infection a month ago. The patient of Pakistani origin working in Nigeria wanted to travel to his home country. A health official deployed at Islamabad airport complained that the government was not providing them with sufficient facilities to keep a check on the deadly disease. "We lack funds and some needed facilities but even then we''re doing our best to screen the suspected Ebola patients to prevent the spread of disease in Pakistan," he said.