ABUJA – The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), has stepped up surveillance and screening for Ebola Virus and other infectious diseases in all Nigerian international airports.
Mr Sani Mahmud, Northern Regional Manager, FAAN, disclosed this while briefing newsmen at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on Wednesday.
Mahmud said the authority had always ensured that all equipment such as the thermal camera, screening monitor, hand temperature detector and hand sanitiser were fully operational.
He said that FAAN’s medical, Port Health Services and Pro-Health International had intensified their level of synergy, since the outbreak of Ebola was reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on May 8.
“As far as we are concerned, Ebola screening is an exercise we have been doing since the last time the incident occurred in our country in 2014.
“It is not as if because the Ebola case has been discovered elsewhere again that we are rushing back to site.
“We have been doing it and we have continued to do it because we have made sure that everything needed is provided to ensure that both departing and arriving international passengers are thoroughly screened.
“Also, two days ago, the Minister of Health visited the airport to verify if we have been screening passengers. He came on his own onsite assessment and he was impressed with what he saw,’’ he said.
Dr Adamu Adamu, Head of Medical, FAAN, said that the authority, in conjunction with Port Health Services and other partners had developed public health contingency plan to tackle any public health emergency such as Ebola.
Adamu stated that even though, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had not declared public health emergency of international concern over the outbreak of Ebola, Nigeria had to be pro-active because of our previous experience.
He explained that FAAN and the relevant agencies had since restrategised to curb any possible spread of the virus into the country, adding that all the necessary facilities had been on ground.
According to him, what we are doing is not an Ebola scan, we are scanning for high temperature fever.
“In this airport, we have public health emergency contingency plan that we developed in conjunction with the Port Health Services of the Ministry of Health and our partners, Pro-Health International.
“I am sure you are all aware of the outbreak of Ebola in Congo. which has moved from the rural areas where it started toward Kinshasa.
“And because Kinshasa is a hub, it has become a serious concern and the world is probably in trouble.
“Right now, World Health Organisation (WHO) has not declared public health emergency of international concern over the case but Nigeria has to be pro-active because of our previous experience and be at alert.
“Immediately we got instruction from the ministry of health we activated our public health emergency plan and we are implementing this plan in conjunction with Port Health Services, the responsible public health and communicable diseases in the airport.
“We provide support as the landlord like hand sanitisers in the toilets for our passengers and we have also put in place some security checks and access control,’’ he said.
Adamu said that major part of the surveillance exercise also included checking of the passengers’ travel history to ascertain if such passenger had had contact with the affected country recently.
He assured that the agencies were committed to making sure that the country did not experience a repeat of 2014 experience.
Dr Oluwakemi Akanbi of Port Health Services said that passengers would have to be screened through thermal camera and hand scanner before going to immigration.
He said that the port health was also working with Nigerian Immigration Service to check travel history of passengers who might have travelled to the affected locations for thorough examination.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that FAAN took media on tour of NAIA facilities.
Hundreds of passengers and crew members on-board Emirates Airlines and RwanAir including the Minister of State for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, were screened through the thermal camera.
