Desks for Zika screening at BIA
by Carol Aloysius
All passengers are to undergo voluntary screening and testing for
Zika at the Bandaranaike International Airport ( BIA) Katunayake.
Disembarking passengers will also be given leaflets on symptoms of Zika,
a mosquito borne disease for which there is no vaccine, for self
evaluation, and forms to indicate if they have travelled from a high
risk country such as South America, Health sources told the Sunday
Observer, Saturday.
Speaking on grounds of anonymity, they said if any passenger was
suspected to have symptoms of the disease, he/she would immediately be
referred to the Hospital for Infectious Diseases ( IDH) at Angoda, which
is ready for any emergency.
"Sri Lanka is still free of this disease. We need to keep it that
way", they said.
Commenting on rumours that Zika patients had already entered the
country they admitted there had been some rumours recently, but stressed
they were baseless. " There have been no confirmed reports of the
disease in Sri Lanka", they reiterated.
The sources said, all hospitals had been alerted and medical officers
and trained nursing staff instructed on what to do if a patient with
positive symptoms was admitted. " Although Zika is a mild form of flu,
we are taking special precautions with regard to pregnant women , due to
birth abnormalities being discovered in proven studies in Brazil, where
the disease first emerged in a big way", a health official said. "We
have advised pregnant women who want to travel to high risk countries to
postpone their visit till after the baby is born."
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry has assured the public that it is
ready to handle any emergency situation, in the instance of any form of
infectious disease breaking out, such as MERS and Ebola. "We have enough
trained staff and skilled doctors. We also have Personal Protective
Equipment ( PPE), such as, face masks, headgear, aprons, eye guards and
boots, as well as an excellent hospital waste disposal system", they
said.
The Health Ministry's recent move comes ahead of the President's
decision to eradicate communicable and non-communicable diseases in the
near future. |