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Scanners installed at Pak airports to avert swine flue outbreak

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, Dec 2, IRNA – Director of Central Health Establishment and official incharge of airport health departments, Dr Liaquat Ali Bhutto here Wednesday said thermal scanners are installed at 3 major airports of Pakistan to avert swine flue outbreak.

Talking to IRNA, he said that the government has devised a policy for Hajj pilgrims and proper surveillance at major airports of the country has been ordered.

“Scanners fitted with thermal sensors would check the incoming Hajj pilgrims and those suspected of having the disease would immediately be shifted to the nearby quarantine area maintained by the health ministry”, said Dr Liaquat Ali Bhutto.

“Isolation wards are established in three major hospitals of the country including those in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad”, he added. He said that a ward at Karachi International Airport is also established.

The first flight carrying a batch of 329 Hajj pilgrims landed at Quetta Airport. About 150,000 Pakistani Hajj pilgrims are scheduled to return home.
Dr. Liaquat Ali Bhutto said that according to the data no Pakistani Hajj pilgrim is infected with the virus.

He added, however, the staff at the airports have been directed to thoroughly check the passengers who may be infected with the disease.

"We are very hopeful that the precautionary measures taken by the government against the spread of swine flu would prove to be successful’, the official said.

“So far we are satisfied with our performance”, he added.

Bhutto also said, "Despite early worries, swine flue infections have been surprisingly low during the pilgrimage."

Earlier, the heads of all educational institutions within the domain of federal and provincial administration had been asked to issue a circular to parents that children with flu like symptoms may not be sent to schools.

The heads of entire hospitals have been instructed to advise their staff, especially the doctors and the paramedics in OPDs to wear masks while attending patients and to take careful history of the travels and contacts of those patients with flu-like symptoms.

The public, too, is advised to always cover their mouths with masks, tissues, or handkerchieves and to cover thier mouths with their elbows while coughing and sneezing.

In related news, the seminar on “Swine flu in Pakistan: Hajj 2009” was organized by the Infection Control Society Pakistan (ICSP). Speakers at the seminar emphasized meaningful medical care for anyone found affected with the virus, pointing out that such a patient could transmit the virus to the others.

They noted that the virus, feared to be carried by foreigners or Pakistani nationals returning home from abroad, could strike at a large-scale expanse and take the shape of an epidemic disease in the winter.

The first case of the H1N1 virus, alias swine flu, in Pakistan was reported in the month of April this year.