The Hindu : Air, seaports alert for SARS

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 03, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

Air, seaports alert for SARS

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI APRIL 2. The city is on a high alert to monitor possible carriers of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) at the airport and the seaport, even as the scare of the communicable disease spreads across South Asian countries.

The managements at airport and seaport are closely monitoring the passengers arriving in the city. "We are monitoring all ships coming from Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Canada and the crew members are being subjected to medical examination by the Port Health Officer", the Chennai Port Trust (ChPT) Chairman, P. Baskaradoss, said.

No suspected case of SARS had been reported so far from the tests conducted as per instructions of the Union Ministry of Health.

On its part, the ChPT and its medical department said they were committed to offering all requisite infrastructure and " as such could not foresee any problem" in ensuring compliance of the government guidelines.

Similarly, the Airport Authorities of India have set up a special desk at the airport to monitor travellers coming in from the South East, according to the Chennai Airport Director, R.J. Treasurywala. The facility assumes importance, considering that Chennai is served by daily flights from Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

Meanwhile, the Chennai Corporation has prepared facilities at the Communicable Diseases Hospital in Tondiarpet to quarantine any case that might be diagnosed.

A special ward has been opened and equipment worth Rs. 19 lakhs, including ventilator and automatic biochemical analyser, have been procured in preparation.

The medical officers of the Chennai Corporation will attend a special training programme in treating communicable diseases by experts from Apollo Hospitals at the Corporation headquarters tomorrow.

The Health Minister, S. Semmalai, said department officials had met to discuss emergency measures to handle the SARS scare.

The Government General Hospital and Government Stanley Hospital are geared up, with medicines and doctors, to handle any passenger who comes to Chennai and might require treatment, he added.

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