Mangaluru (TNN): Mangalore International Airport (MIA) could soon get a thermal scanner equipment to check the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). It could be one of the six more thermal scanners that the Union health ministry plans to set up at international airports in the country.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) sent a requisition in this regard to the ministry around three days ago, told MIA director J T Radhakrishna.
Radhakrishna said that a team of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) from Hyderabad and Bengaluru had visited the airport recently to take stock of measures at MIA to detect EVD. "The DGCA team was fully satisfied with the measures in place," Radhakrishna said.
At present officials from the department of health and family welfare are undertaking screening activities of international passengers based on symptoms. "So far, there has been no case of any passenger being detected with either the symptoms or quarantined for the purpose," he noted.
Arun Kumar Panda, additional secretary, ministry of health and family welfare, announced in Delhi on Thursday that the number of thermal scanner equipment will go up from 18 to 24 and all incoming passengers will be checked at international airports. The screening will be particularly for those reaching from international destinations, Dr Panda said, adding as on Thursday, 33,000 passengers had been screened.
