Govt strengthens Ebola preparedness, screens nearly 4,000 international passengers

Vijayawada: Even as no Ebola cases have been reported in Andhra Pradesh, the medical and health department has intensified surveillance and preparedness measures following the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) declaration of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).According to a health department bulletin, AP has screened a cumulative 3,940 international passengers arriving through airports in Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and

Tirupati

between May 26 and June 19. None of the passengers had symptoms, travel from Ebola-affected countries, or contact history warranting observation, and no suspected Ebola case has been detected in the state, the bulletin showed.To strengthen preparedness for containing the virus, the govt has designated three isolation centres with a total of 44 beds: 10 beds at Tirupati Ruia govt hospital, four beds at Vijayawada govt general hospital (GGH) and another 30 beds at the govt hospital for chest and communicable diseases in Visakhapatnam.The government further activated district rapid response teams (RRTs), which have been activated, while a state-level RRT comprising specialists in general medicine, community medicine, paediatrics and microbiology has also been constituted.Officials of the medical and health department said the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and guidelines issued by the Centre for containing the spread of the Ebola virus have been circulated to all districts.

DMHOs have been instructed to coordinate with airport authorities for passenger screening, deploy dedicated ambulances, and undertake public awareness campaigns to prevent panic. Further, medical colleges have also been directed to maintain adequate stocks of viral transport media and personal protective equipment (PPE).PPE kits and other logistics supplied by the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, have been distributed to isolation centres in Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada. A mock drill was conducted at the designated isolation centre in Visakhapatnam to test the state’s preparedness, while passenger tracking is being monitored through the integrated health information platform (IHIP).The department further said 120 category-I passengers, who had neither symptoms nor contact history, were verified through the surveillance system.