Flu checks at airport slack

While six cases of swine flu has already been officially reported in Hyderabad, word is out that there are many more cases under the scanner that have not yet been authenticated. To deal with a disease that spreads so easily, the attitude at the Hyderabad airport — the only place where the flu can be stopped from spreading to the rest of the city — is terribly lax. Passengers from the US who were expecting intensive screening were appalled to see that Hyderabad airport officials are relying only on “word of mouth without any verification” to confirm if they are infected. There is no sign of ‘thermal scanners’ and other sophisticated equipment that is being used in the US and the UK, despite the fact that Hyderabad is fast becoming the “swine flu capital” of the country.

Most passengers lament that they are being asked “verbally” if they have been ill or if they have been “coughing” but there is no scientific mechanism in place to detect people with swine flu. Divesh Lakhi, a student of University of Florida, says, “I was taken aback when I was casually asked if I had fever or cold at the Hyderabad airport. I said I was fine, signed the form, and they let me proceed straight to the Customs. There was no other screening. Going by their slack way of checking passengers, I won’t be surprised if many cases have gone unreported.”

While all passengers arriving from countries blacklisted by WHO are filling a form with details of countries visited, et al, there is no mechanism to verify the authenticity of the information. Akhil R. Gyani who flew down to the city from London says, “There is an option in the questionnaire that asks if I visited the US in the last couple of days. But the officials did not cross-check what I wrote with my visa or passport. I could have stopped at the US before flying down from the UK or taken an en route flight, but they chose to blindly believe what I filled in the form.”

While the airport authorities insist that the checks are foolproof, the doctors stationed at the international airport itself admit that there is a “loophole” in the procedure. A health official from APHO stationed at the airport, says matter-of-factly, “Yes, I’m aware that we are not verifying the details by checking their passports. We will look into this matter soon and demand to see the documents from now on. For now, 10 nurses are put in charge of checking the passengers for swine flu who physically check almost every passenger’s body temperature.”

But passengers at the airport disagree. Vamshidhar Gunuganti, a student of University of New Orleans who flew down to the city, says, “I was just asked if I was feeling alright and if I had cough or fever. The problem lies in the fact that there is no infrastructure in place where 200 passengers can be attended to. But if I do have swine flu and I look fit, there is no way that they can tell I’m infected.”

What’s worse, many forms were even not glanced at. Karl D’Silva, an immigrant of Canada flew from Canada to Hyderabad, says, “I landed and filled the health form. They also verbally asked me where I was travelling from and if I was sick. After that no one even looked at my form,” he exclaims..