Mundra follows WHO steps, but health officials shy away

Though Mundra has two world-class international container terminals, it is yet to be visited by any high official of the health department to provide guidance to stop spread of the Mexico flu. Port sources said that the chief district health officer who had met a port official here on Monday simply handed over the WHO guidelines on precautionary measures, which were already available with the Mundra port authority. 

“From day one, we stopped all visitors to visit any ships. Our own people who had to board the ships berthed at our port for loading or unloading of cargo, go with mask and gloves on the hands as this disease mainly spread through coughing and sneezing. Any crew member briefly coming on the shore had also put mask,’’ a port official told DNA on Tuesday.

The official said there was least chances of the spread of this killer disease as all the ships calling at Mundra completed their cargo loading and unloading operations within two to three days. Besides,  there was no city life at Mundra to lure crew members to leave the ship. The sources said that the third thing was most of the ships calling at Mundra were from the Gulf countries, not from Mexico, the origin of the disease, or from any nearby ports in south or north America.

Port sources said that since the immigration and customs people were not under their control, they could not force them to take measures as directed by them. The sources said they had therefore urged the district authorities to authorise the port authority so that they could effectively implement the WHO guidelines to the fullest extent.

Kutch district collector RR Varsani said he was discussing the matter with other officials and planning an effective prevention of spread of the swine flu. “We could be effective through co-ordinated efforts. The meeting was also being attended by Adani people as well Bhuj airport people,’’ he said.