Hyderabad: Telangana Health Minister C Damodar Rajanarasimha assured people on Tuesday, May 26, that there is no need for panic over the Ebola virus, emphasising that the state government is fully prepared to deal with any situation.
Following a meeting with officials, he said no Ebola case has been reported in the state and no person with symptoms has been identified so far.
Officials informed the minister that 58 passengers have landed in Hyderabad till May 25 from countries where Ebola cases were reported and none of them has any symptoms, according to an official release.
The officials said preventive measures, as per the Centre’s directives, have been taken. Screening and thermal scanning protocols are active at the city’s RGI airport for passengers arriving from countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and South Sudan, where Ebola has been detected.
In addition to teams of doctors, health inspectors and state-run 108 emergency service ambulances are being stationed round the clock at the airport.
According to officials, a special isolation ward with 10 beds has been set up in the Gandhi government hospital in the city and the Head of the Department of General Medicine has been appointed as nodal officer.
Samples of suspects would be sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune. The asymptomatic persons who came from countries where Ebola has spread would be kept in home isolation for 21 days. Health teams in districts would keep surveillance on them.
The minister instructed officials to admit symptomatic persons to the isolation ward in Gandhi Hospital and scrupulously follow the infection control protocols.
Officials were also asked to ensure coordination among health teams at the airport, district surveillance personnel and hospitals.
Union Health Minister J P Nadda on Monday said no case of Ebola Virus has been reported in India so far, directing officials to ensure all surveillance and testing arrangements remain in a state of readiness.
“India has not reported any case of Bundibugyo Ebola disease to date,” Nadda said.
The Centre has intensified precautionary measures after the World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has also designated it a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security (PHECS).
