Airport operations likely to collapse
The High Court yesterday ordered the government to immediately take steps to screen all incoming passengers for Ebola infection at all international ports and border areas with the help of armed forces.
The court also issued a rule asking the government to explain as to why it should not be directed to provide humanitarian aid to Ebola affected people in other countries.
Health department officials said it takes around five minutes to screen a single passenger. The screening includes a set of questions and recording the body temperature of a passenger. Screening everyone could result in chaos at the airport.
An official of an airlines said around 7,000 international passengers arrive at Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka every day and if the lone Ebola health desk set up at the airport screens all of them, the turn of the last passenger would come after 24 days.
Wishing anonymity the official also said it would be a huge mess at the airport to screen all passengers. Besides, the international passengers would think twice before visiting Bangladesh.
A member of inter-ministerial monitoring committee on Ebola said now different airports in the developed countries like the USA and the UK only screen passengers whose journeys began or included a stop in one of the three Ebola affected African countries.
Replying to a query, he said only the body temperature of the inbound passengers could be measured installing archway thermal scanners at the airports.
Fever is one of the primary symptoms of Ebola infection. At present, medical teams use hand-held thermal scanners to detect temperatures of passengers.
“It is not necessary to screen all inbound passengers. What we need is to screen passengers from Ebola affected countries and monitoring them closely for 21 days after arrival,” the official said wishing anonymity.
It could take up anything from two to 21 days for humans with the virus to show symptoms.
Health Minister Mohammed Nasim had said the government would soon buy several thermal scanners to be used for measuring temperatures of all passengers arriving at the airports.
Yesterday, the HC bench came up with the order and rule in response to a writ petition filed on October 16 by Supreme Court lawyer Md Eunus Ali Akond seeking necessary directives from the HC to prevent Ebola virus entering in the country and treating the affected people.
Deputy Attorney General Mokhlesur Rahman opposed the petition saying the government had taken measures to prevent Ebola.
The World Health Organisation termed the Ebola outbreak in West African nations an international health emergency. The deadly disease has claimed at least 4,447 lives, mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria.
Yesterday, another HC bench fixed Wednesday for passing an order on another writ petition filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh seeking its directive on the government to provide specialised treatment to Ebola affected people, if anyone is found to have the virus.
During the hearing, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam vehemently opposed the petition saying the government had issued an alert at the ports and that another HC bench had already passed an order in this regard.
He said such public interest cases were being moved to fund NGOs, and there is a race among some lawyers to move such cases.
HRPB's lawyer Manzill Murshid said he was moving the case with his own money.
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