IGI fiddles with swine flu tests

New Delhi: While Rajya Sabha has witnessed stormy scenes over the past couple of days with several members pointing out that surveillance for H1N1 influenza at Indian airports is still not satisfactory, many passengers arriving at IGI said screening process at the airport is little more than a sham.
Here’s what Newsline found: soon as passengers arrive and pass through the aerobridge into the main building, they encounter two screening counters on either side of the barricade leading to immigration counters. Several officials wearing masks man these counters — two wooden desks. The officials (both airport Health Ministry officials say they are doctors) scrutinise forms and stamp them at great speed before passengers move to the immigration area.
Immigration checking is followed by baggage claiming, and a passenger is out of the airport just as swiftly as it sounds.
“There is no medical check up at the airport,” said Mredu Akhauri , who arrived on Thursday in a Turkish Airways flight with her family after a European tour.
Newsline also found that only a handful of airport staff wear masks within the premises — most remove them as soon as they leave the immigration area. In fact, save a few, most staff members remain unaware of a ‘swine flu’ epidemic.
“There is a health scare from passengers arriving here — we have been asked to be careful,” said a ‘masked’ official on duty. “It is surprising that screening for swine flu is a simple form-filling exercise at IGI,” said Gaurav Gupta, arriving from London.
A passenger is screened, or later quarantined, by airport health officials only if they had mentioned any symptoms in the declaration forms given by their airlines.
04/07/09 Geeta Gupta/Indian Express

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Categories: Airports Jul 2009, Foreign Jul 2009