KARACHI: Pakistan beefed up monitoring of inbound passengers on Tuesday to check spread of deadly Swine Flu as health experts warned not enough vaccines and poor virus detection capability at hospitals necessitate need for containing it at airports.
Airlines have been asked to report to airport officials about passengers suffering from incessant cough, fever and other symptoms associated with the virus, said Dr Liaquat Bhatti, in-charge of disease control at all international airports.
“We have asked airline crews to be extra cautious in dealing with passengers embarking from destinations like America, Canada and transit hub Dubai,” he said. “Arrangements have been made for isolating anyone suspected of carrying the virus.”
Unlike other countries in region which have installed high-tech machines to check fever among passengers, airports here are poorly equipped and halfhearted attempt is being made on part of vigilance staff, aviation industry people said.
“This high alert and warnings being issued are all eyewash,” said a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) official deputed at international arrival terminal of Karachi International Airport, country’s largest.
“I did not see anyone here trying to check if passengers coming from abroad are okay,” he said, adding that passengers of a flight from the US came out as usual.
Though this contagious disease has not assumed status of a pandemic, health officials fear its outbreak on streets will be disastrous as Pakistan lacks even basic facilities to distinguish symptoms of normal flu from that of deadly Swine Flu.
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