MERS screening centre starts functioning at Mangalore Airport

 

Mangalore, 30 May 2014: Team of doctors and paramedical staff of Government Wenlock Hospital and Yenepoya Hospital have started working at the new Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) screening centre at Mangalore International Airport on Thursday.

 

District Health Officer HS Shivakumar said that all preparations have been made to screen passengers arriving from Middle East countries for MERS at the airport. "The MERS screening counter has been opened at the airport for passengers arriving from Sharjah, Doha, Bahrain and Dubai. Passengers from Middle East countries, who suffer from fever, cough, sore throat and breathing difficulty, will be screened for MERS at the airport. The blood samples and throat swabs of passengers arriving from Middle East countries, who have the symptoms, will be sent for MERS test. Samples will be sent to KMC Manipal and National Communicable Diseases Centre, New Delhi for confirmation," Dr Shivakumar said.

 

The MERS screening centre functioning at the airport will have to monitor the passenger list of all the 28 flights that are arriving from Middle countries. An ambulance of 108 of the department has been kept ready near the airport to take passengers to hospital if required, he said.

 

"No cases of MERS have been found in the nation so far. The 63-year-old woman, who returned from Saudi Arabia on May 20, is being treated at a private hospital in the city after she complained of fever. However, it is found through test reports from Manipal that she has not contracted MERS. All facilities have been arranged at KMC Hospital, Father Muller Hospital, Unity Hospital, Yenepoya Hospital and Government Wenlock Hospital to treat passengers arriving from Middle countries, in case syndromes of MERS are found in them. A total of 10 beds have been kept at isolated wards at Wenlock Hospital," Shivakumar said.

 

He requested all passengers arriving from Middle East countries to visit nearest hospital for check-up if they find symptoms like fever and breathing difficulty within 14 days of their arrival.