A three-member panel set up by the Health Ministry to suggest ways to check the entry of the deadly Ebola virus into the country, has urged the Ministry of External Affairs to ask the affected countries to discharge patients only after their body fluids test negative for the disease.
According to Health Ministry officials, precautions are required because even though the virus does not remain in the blood after treatment, the disease can be transmitted through sexual intercourse up to 90 days after the clinical cure.
An Indian national, cleared by liberia of Ebola, still had traces of the Ebola virus after he landed at the Delhi airport. Though his blood samples tested negative for Ebola in three different tests, his semen samples were positive, so he will be kept in isolation till his body fluids test negative “as a matter of abundant caution.”
Authorities said the isolation is necessary to rule out even the remote possibility of this disease spreading through the sexual route. The quarantine period will be for three months.It is learnt that the panel, headed by AIIMS doctor Randeep Guleria, was of the view that the disease can be prevented from entering India if the countries from where the patients cured of Ebola return, allow them to stay back for a further three months.
Sources said that the MEA is considering the matter and will take adequate action.The panel which was set up by Health Minister JP Nadda on Tuesday has also been asked to plug gaps at airports as well visit States to review the preparedness of the hospitals designated for treating Ebola patients.
Nadda also asked officials to ensure that quarantine facilities set up at airports adhere to all guidelines and protocols.The Minister said: “All arrivals from outside the country are being checked. The tour and medical history of passengers are being checked at airports. Measures have been put in place at 24 airports with isolation centres setup there. Joint efforts are being made by Union Ministries of Health and Civil Aviation. Assistance of Army doctors is also being sought.”
Officials from several Ministries concerned, besides those from AIIMS and other central hospitals, WHO and National Disaster Management Authority attended the meeting.Pushing for expediting the Ministry’s action plan on the need to have India compliant on the core capacities required under international health regulations, he said there was a need to strengthen ten laboratories by the end of the month.
India has screened thousands of passengers travelling from Ebola-hit West Africa in recent weeks. There are nearly 45,000 Indian nationals living in West Africa.Ebola has taken the lives of at least 5,177 people, mostly in Sierra leone, liberia and Guinea, according to the latest WHO figures.