BSS, Dhaka -- The country has recorded 19 more new swine flu cases in the last 24 hours after health authorities were blamed for lax screening of suspected people on arrival at Zia International Airport, country's main entry point.
"We have recorded 19 fresh A H1N1 virus infected people in the country and now the total number rose to 163," the government's spokesperson on infectious diseases said on Friday.
Prof Dr Mahmudur Rahman, also the director of institute of epidemiology disease control and research (IEDCR, however, denied allegations of poor screening for homebound passengers at the airport, saying 'rather steps have been taken to strengthen it.
"We have deployed eight more persons at the airport to facilitate better health screening to contain swine flu," he said, adding that allegations were not correct that only a health form was offered to passengers for self-declaration of their health status. He said a total of 60 health professionals, including eight doctors, are working round-the clock at the airport.
Several passengers travelled in neighbouring India, Nepal and Bhutan expressed their dismay over the preventive measures at the ZIA but said they had to go thorough health check-ups before they enter into the cities of Kolkata, New Delhi, Kathmandu and Thimphu.
"Health personnel came and took reading of my body temperature and that of my husband as soon as we landed at the Thimphu airport," said a passenger travelled to Bhutan and Nepal last week. She also said similar steps should be taken immediately at the ZIA, where none have so far volunteered to report their flu symptoms to the airport medical team.
The report was, however, denied by Prof Rahman, who said a good number of people have been detected at the airport. He said more than 300,000 people have been screened at the airport, but could not give the figure how many of them are detected with swine flu at ZIA.
"Its true that we are not taking body temperature of passengers at the airport," acknowledged a health assistant preferring anonymity, but added that temperature reading could not even help identify a case if he or she is in the incubation period. He, however, agreed that people have a common tendency to resort to false health statement to avoid delay when returning home.
Dr Rahman said it could have been better if reading of temperature of every individual could be taken at the airport, but it's very difficult to manage big chunk of passengers with limited manpower.
Immigration authorities said more than 4,000 people do enter everyday into Bangladesh through the ZIA, country's main airport and the most busy entry point. The health team has so far screened 300,000 people in last two months there.
Health authorities said a sizeable percent of 163 swine flu positive people have arrived from abroad, while the rest were infected locally in urban areas, especially at the community level in Dhaka city, home to an estimated 12 million people. One person, out of 19 ,detected on Friday also came from abroad.
Rahman said the government has kept ready a number of public hospitals for flu cases and eight more private hospitals have been earmarked for the purpose. The Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), as part of it, opened Flu Unit on Wednesday.
A director of country's one of the biggest private hospitals said they have no preparation to treat swine flu cases at their hospital at Panthapath and said "we would try to avoid patients with flu symptoms." Asked about their social responsibility, he said, the government has taken the responsibility with some private medical institutes-and nothing to do with them.
Dr Rahman, meanwhile, said the state of three-month old girl, now undergoing treatment at a hospital outside Dhaka, remained unchanged and their parents were requesting hospital authorities to take her back home, with breathing complication.
The World Health Organization (WHO), which has declared swine flu as a global pandemic on June 11, asked the world again on Tuesday to remain alert against H1N1, saying the flu has been mild so far but it could become serious as the northern hemisphere edges towards winter.
Swine flu has now spread to nearly 180 countries. According to last week's update of WHO, laboratory-confirmed deaths from the flu strain totalled 1,462, while at least 177,000 people have caught the disease.
Meanwhile, the Swedish government has set aside one billion Kronor (100 million euros, 142 million dollars) to help pay for the vaccination of its entire population against swine flu.
The vaccine is likely to be available for production in early November after successful clinical trials by China and the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The New Zealand is expecting the first shipment of swine flu vaccine by next month, but it would start vaccination to its people in early 2010 after clinical trials locally.
Bangladesh, which is at higher risk of second level of swine flu in winter, has already applied for the vaccine to the WHO, which is supposed to provide vaccines free of cost to developing countries.
Source: nation.ittefaq.com
