India finally wakes up to swine flu

With the number of swine influenza cases increasing across the world, the health and civil aviation ministries have finally set up special counters at airports and seaports for enhanced surveillance and screening of passengers from nations hit by the outbreak. The counters were to be functional from Wednesday midnight.

Four counters each, just before the immigration, have been set up in the arrival and departure areas of Delhi and Mumbai airports. The counters will be manned by 40 doctors and 10 nurses each round-the-clock till fear of the flu subsides. Similar counters have been set up at other international airports.

The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security will grant temporary entry passes to health officials  for easy access to high security zones.

Passengers from seven countries have been put on the scanner: Mexico, US, Canada, UK, Spain, New Zealand and Israel. They have to report the presence of fever, respiratory symptoms and details of visit to a flu-affected through a special form.

State health authorities have been told to identify hospitals near airports and seaports for tertiary care.

Pre-flight check-ups have been made mandatory for pilots and other crew, who have been trained to identify suspected flu cases on board.