A suspected case of the deadly Ebola virus, which surfaced in Chennai on Saturday night, has galvanised health authorities from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to start the groundwork to meet exigencies in Hyderabad and elsewhere. While authorities maintained that there was no ‘clear and present’ danger from Ebola virus, precautionary measures, however, are mandatory.
While ‘passive’ airport screening at Shamshabad for Middle-East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Ebola are already in place, health officials here said that spreading awareness on Ebola, designating hospitals to handle MERS and Ebola cases and training health care workers on handling such cases, if any, will be taken up in coming days.
Senior doctors, who have handled a similar swine flue (H1N1) outbreak in 2009-10 in Hyderabad, pointed out that there was a need to strengthen surveillance at airports by making mandatory screening of passengers coming from the four West African countries that include Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. According to WHO, 1,800 cases of Ebola positive cases were reported from the four countries till August 6, out of which 961 were fatalities.
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“At present, screening at Shamshabad airport is only passive which means travellers coming from West Africa have to volunteer if they have symptoms. If persons with such symptoms do not report and eventually mingle with the general population, there is a greater risk. Screening should be made mandatory for persons coming from these countries. Indians who have travel plans to West Africa should postpone them right away,” advised senior chest physician Dr. K. Subhakar.
Officials said that Gandhi Hospital, which has a disaster wing with three ventilators, is likely to be designated as the nodal centre for MERS and Ebola cases. “We are identifying four to six medical officers from Gandhi and Osmania General Hospital who will undergo training to handle such cases. We will also work closely with corporate hospitals in Hyderabad who frequently receive patients from Africa,” says Additional Director, Communicable Diseases, Dr. Geeta Prasadini.
Government laboratories in TS and A.P. do not have the capability to test for Ebola virus. Healthcare workers have to send serum samples of suspected patients to National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, for testing and confirmation. Health officials are yet to take measures to procure personal protection equipment necessary to handle such patients.
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“We need to strengthen our isolation facilities, have access to at least 10 ventilators, should have a strong screening programme at airports because we have a large population of African students in Hyderabad. General awareness on the ailment is also very important,” says Dr. Subhakar.