A two-member team from Centre's health department visited the city's isolation facility for Ebola cases on Monday. According to sources in state health department, they had a checklist while reviewing the facilities and found that both Kasturba and Jogeshwari hospitals were not up to the mark with respect to WHO guidelines.
An infectious disease expert said the isolation facility should have separate air duct, ventilation, hepa filters, reverse cycle air condition, and facility for air vents sterilisation to avoid air-borne infection, among other things. "WHO guidelines state this," said the doctor.
"One of the points underlined by the team was absence of negative pressure that plays a key role in infection control in an isolation centre," said a source.
Apart from the absence of negative pressure, the team also pointed out the necessity to have separate entrance and exit for the isolation facility, as well as having a better facility for washing hands.
The team will be submitting its report to the Centre. Meanwhile, the state health department has asked Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur civic bodies to submit a proposal for upgrade of the isolation facilities. "We have submitted the proposal and look forward for funding from the Centre for the same," said Dr Mangala Gomare, head of the epidemiology department, BMC. In the list of requirements, BMC has asked for round-the-clock intensivists and dedicated ventilator supports.
The state health department also plans to have an independent committee to form an ideal model or a state-of-the-art facility for infectious diseases in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur.
Ebola has killed more than 4,900 people, mostly in the West African nations of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, and infected thousands more.
Passengers at city international airport are being categorised on the basis of a health card they fill up with information about their travel to Ebola-hit countries, and exposure to affected people in the last 21 days, among other details. They are then categorised into high-risk (those with fever detected at airport), medium-risk (those with contact history), and low-risk (those who do not have symptoms or a history of contact) groups.
High-risk patients are taken to the quarantine facility, while medium-risk ones have to provide contact details to airport officials, who send it to civic health officials in Mumbai.
So far, 5,000 passengers travelling via Air Arabia, Emirates, Etihad, Fly Dubai, Gulf Air, Kuwait Airways, Oman Air, Qatar Airways, Rak Air, Royal Jordanian Airlines and Saudi Arabian Airlines have been surveyed.
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