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P.T. Jyothi Datta

NEW DELHI, April 7

THERE is but a thin, if any, screening process to filter the health-status of tourists travelling into India from countries afflicted by atypical pneumonia or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). If the Sahar International airport in Mumbai is any indicator to go by, the "health alert" procedures put in place at transit points to screen the entry of inward-bound tourists leaves much to be desired.

And though the World Health Organisation's Director-General, Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, has observed today that India is "lucky" not to have had any incidence of SARS till date - an experience at Mumbai's International airport on Sunday last, leaves a nagging thought that it may not be long before this luck runs out.

A rather unhappy observation on World Health Day (April 7).

Zero hour on April 6, Sunday, saw at least five flight-loads of passengers - either from or transiting through Paris, Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong and Johannesburg - disembarking at Mumbai. Though the flights landed within minutes of each other, airport staff to handle the inwardly bound passengers were few - meaning that all hell broke loose and an intermingling of passengers could not be avoided.

And why was this reason for worry? Considering that Hong Kong, Australia, Belgium, the US and Singapore were among the several countries on a health-alert for either being affected or having reported SARS - authorities at the airport did not seem to worry too much. Unlike other Asian airports, where all passengers were given surgical masks and airport authorities wore the same covering their eyes and nose - the transit point at India's financial capital seemed to throw all caution to the wind.

Few airport personnel wore masks, some exposing their nose while covering their mouth! As for passengers disembarking at Mumbai, there were no masks on offer, even if one wanted it. Passengers concerned about their health were left with no other option but to cover their nose with handkerchiefs.

In the name of health screening was a pamphlet given to passengers that required them to indicate if they had visited China, France, Germany, Vietnam, Hong Kong, etc. These pamphlets were to be handed back to a couple of personnel, who evidently were clueless about why all passengers were not mandatorily given masks.

The pamphlet handed out by airport authorities, however did list out some Frequently Asked Questions on SARS, along with some contact details of relevant authorities in New Delhi. However, given that about 100 people have succumbed to SARS worldwide and close to 3,000 infected - authorities in India seem to be blissfully oblivious to the illness that most certainly has caught the attention of authorities worldwide, thanks to the steadily growing toll.

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