No Room for Complacency in Tackling Ebola: Harsh Vardhan

Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that there is no room for complacency in tackling the deadly Ebola virus. He also said that India has put in place the same surveillance-tracking systems for checking the dreaded disease which has succeeded in Nigeria, leading to the African nation being declared "Ebola-Free" by World Health Organisation (WHO).

"If a single case of Ebola is detected, we must have systems in place to treat such a patient. Therefore it is important to carry out training programmes in all district hospitals across the country," he said. We have removed all stops to constantly upgrade equipment and retrain staff and are in the process of further strengthening them," he said.

The minister further said all international airports and sea ports will soon be fitted out with thermal scanners and other EVD detection equipment for 'round-the-clock' deployment. These scanners, which resemble the radar guns used by police officers to catch speeding motorists, can detect high body temperature among people queued up before immigration counters. Fever is one of the commonest symptoms of this disease. Our officials have already used thermal scanners when SARS broke out in south-east Asia some years back," Harsh Vardhan said.

"We used a war-room approach to coordinate the outbreak response. Our strict procedures for screening all arrivals and communicating with the Indians living in the African continent are in tune with international standards," he added.

Source-ANI