So far we have not done anything in terms of screening those returning from Saudi Arabia. In fact, most of them have already reached home.
In a letter to this paper, writer Tariq Ali says “I shudder at thought of such an outbreak as Ebola in Pakistan, where government medical facilities are nonexistent and corruption-infected check posts at our airports and seaports have been facilitating every one to walk in and out of this country, no questions asked.”
A recent report by Faiza Ilyas, a hard-working journalist who I have had the pleasure of knowing for more than a decade, suggests that Pakistan is on a high risk of having Ebola virus disease.
Most international airlines operating in its airspace are not complying with the requirement (under national and international regulations) of collecting information on passenger health status. Faiza Ilyas says that the airport health department is severely incapable of facing the challenge.
What we know is that the department is incapable in more ways than one. The issue is not that of paucity of funds or cooperation from airlines, as suggested by the head of that department. It is that of corruption.
While most countries have done away with the health declaration form, our airport health officials abuse the formality on a daily basis to harass vulnerable passengers like those arriving from Africa. The passengers are bullied, taken into a separate room and money extracted in exchange for a return for their passports.
We know that information on the health status of international passengers is the first tool at an airport to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Our department keeps no such records. Forms filled by incoming passengers are dumped within minutes of being submitted. The wolves only prey on those they can make a killing from.
The same is the case with our sea and land borders. There are no procedures in place. Money talks. This is a far cry from other countries which have systems to check for Ebola and for other life-threatening diseases.
Saudi Arabia, where more than 250 people have died this year of Middle East respiratory syndrome corona virus (Mers-CoV) is now on high alert to tackle the threat of both Mers-CoV and Ebola.
Our situation is more complicated. Thousands of our men and women serve as peacekeepers in Sierra Leone and countries which have been put on the Ebola watch list. This is apart from sailors and aircrew working in charter companies who frequently visit that region.
If Ebola does break out in Pakistan, we have no plan in place to deal with it. Barring a few city hospitals, almost no medical facility has the capacity to deal with the disease or to try and contain it. Most victims will die before their symptoms are confirmed. They will also infect others.
How lightly we take medical issues can be gauged from the manner in which most passengers have dealt with the issue of polio certificates. There is no check at our borders for passengers to carry polio certificates. The onus is left on airlines and on points of destination.
The health ministry needs to wake up along with the NDMA, which is known more for sleeping till after a national disaster has taken place. If we do not act now, the chances are that our country will also suffer the same fate as those in West Africa where international airlines have suspended flights and passengers coming from that region are screened at every destination.
Our exports too would suffer as is the case with Ivory Coast and Ghana, who together produce half of the world’s cocoa. Given that they are next to Liberia and Guinea, where Ebola has struck with force, the export prospects for cocoa have also been affected. That is not because someone can get Ebola by eating a chocolate bar but because the farmers who tend to the crops would rather run away. We cannot afford such a fate.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 20th, 2014.
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COMMENTS (7)
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Whoo, people enough with the hate-mail. @Author, thank you for bringing up this issue but their is some silver lining! Punjab's health department has been put to high alert and we should adopt, and spread to others, the preventive measures we can take against this virus, such as regular hand washing and quarantining the infected.
Give the long incubation period even proper airport health checks are unlikely to provide much insurance against Ebola - as such corruption of airport personnel may not be the most important consideration. . Pakistan may have nuclear bombs and missiles but your not that much better than some of the West African countries when it comes to having the medical infrastructure to handle a contagious disease like Ebola, You don't have the trained medical personnel, isolation wards/procedures, equipment, medicine etc. and if we use Polio as an example it's clear that educating the public on how to minimize the spread of this disease maybe a difficult exercise.
Congrats Kamal for focusing on humanitarian issues such a Ebola and Polio virus. Given the poor sanitation conditions that prevail in subcontinent, in all three countries Pakistan, Indiia and Bangladesh, a joint approach is needed. In Pakistan, where corruption is rampant, and medical waste is sold for recycling instead of being burned in Incernators, the situation is more serious, especially given huge numbers of our men in uniform posted in Ebola infected countries doing UN Peacekeeping work. Has anybody given a thought.? What about our sailors and pilots working in freighter charter companies who visit these Ebola contagious countries and can we expect corruption ridden Ports and Shipping or CAA to keep a record of crew licensed by them, when they have miserably failed to perform their basic regulatory duties and carry honest inspections.?.
The majority of Pakistani does not even know what a virus is....
Thank you ET for taking up this issue with all the dangers of Ebola going out of control, especially in a country like Pakistan, where hospital waste is sold by both state and private clinics. As for our airports, we have seen how corruption infected that Organization has become, where for over a year under PPP tenure, thousands of aircrafts landed with no records kept and landing cum parking fee pocketed by scores of corrupt executives, who still work there and not a single one of them prosecuted or even sacked from service.
The threat of Ebola is real. Unfortunately, at our airports proper checks are not made. Even regards polio drops and certificates no seriousness is seen. We are by nature a fatalistic people. Trust in Allah but tie your camel fist! It is important that a plan shoul be devised and then implemented.
Be prepared to blame Ebola on USA! Or Israel!