There is a health centre at the Hazrat Shahjalal Airport to detect people who may have been infected with contagious disease. But this centre faces crisis of space and equipment.
It’s believed that the policy of World Health Organisation (WHO) and Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) is not being followed properly.
Airport sources say that the approved manpower is inadequate.
There are only three persons working as assistant health officials at the airport. One is working on deputation so the number is 4 and they have to work 24 hours.
Sources say that 39 airlines use the Shahjalal Airport with an average of 250 flights daily. The airport is used by more than 8 million passengers every year. Compared the massive operation of the airport, the number of people at the medical centre is scant.
The centre has ECG, sucker machine, nebulizer and other equipment but there aren’t enough people to run them.
If someone is taken ill at the airport s/he is sent to the Kurmitola hospital in an ambulance, however, in the car there isn’t anyone except the driver to accompany the patient.
As per International Air Transport Association (IATA) the airport health centre has to be visible so any person facing health issues can go there but at Shahjalal the medical centre is not fully visible.
As per IATA, every international airport must have a fully-fledged medical centre, which must have a link with a nearby general hospital.
At present, there is an MoU with the Kurmitola General Hospital but since most cases are related heart ailments, there has to be an agreement with a hospital specializing in heart diseases.
There are three thermal scanners to detect if any passenger has been infected by any disease but one of the scanners is usually inoperative.
The initial symptom of Zica, Ebola or Nipah is fever and these can be detected through scanners and therefore, the machines need to be in working order.
If a person is detected with any of the above then s/he has to be kept in quarantine and taken to a quarantine hospital. Efforts were taken to develop such a hospital near the airport’s hangar gate, but later, the building was given to the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).
Chairman of the CAAB, air vice marshal Md Mofidur Rahman, said: “The health centre at the airport has been improved and the health ministry has given equipment. Our main task is to monitor that a person with a contagious virus or disease does not enter the country.”
Saying that in comparison with health centres in other countries, the medical cnetre in Dhaka is standard, he assured that it will be upgraded further in the future.