Asking India to maintain a constant vigilance against Ebola, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that a single case of deadly virus would be disastrous for the country which has a teeming population.
The WHO is working with Health Ministry to formulate a “preparedness plan” to deal with any eventuality if there is an outbreak of Ebola in the country.
Presently, the disease is restricted to four West African countries-Guinea, liberia, Sierra leone and Nigeria. India has been proactive in keeping surveillance against the disease. But it needs to continue doing it so because a single case of deadly disease here could prove disastrous for the country, Nata Menabde, WHO representative to India told reporters on Friday.
“Preparation is a very critical aspect. WHO is working with the Ministry of Family Welfare and Planning to ensure that we put into place preparedness measures. It doesn’t mean it is going to happen, but we are prepared if it happens,” said Asheena Khalakdina, Team leader, Communicable Disease, WHO Country office for India.
She said the countries should be prepared to deal with an outbreak scenario. “We have outbreak measures in place and in India we are looking at airports and other entry points.”Khalakdina said there were gaps related to infection control practices and the WHO was working with the government to deal with them.
“It requires a great amount of effort to reach a 100 per cent (in preventing an Ebola case in country). The Ministry is very serious (in handling the situation). Even before the pandemic was announced the Minister (Harsh Vardhan) discussed some measures to go about in this,” she said.India is tracking each passenger arriving from the affected countries by the Airport Health Organisations based on the information provided by the External Affairs Ministry. They are being monitored by the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme.