Director of Public Health inspects Ebola screening facility at Chennai airport

With the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare issuing an advisory for airlines and travellers in line with the Ebola virus disease, Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Government of Tamil Nadu A. Somasundaram on Saturday inspected the Ebola screening facility set up at the Chennai International Airport arrival terminal.

Officials said that it was ensured that the Standard Operating Procedure for Ebola screening, as per the MoHFW guidelines, was in place. While the airport has set up the screening facility, staff from the directorate were also deputed to assist them.

With fever being the main symptom, screening through thermal scanner was being taken up. “If a traveller has fever, they will be checked for travel and contact history, and the next step will be taken only if they are travelling from the affected countries,” an official said.

Dr. Somasundaram also inspected the Centre for Hospice Care, Tambaram as a part of efforts to identify probable Ebola quarantine facilities. The World Health Organisation recently declared the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda a “public health emergency of international concern”.