30 April 2009
THE Ministry of Health has intensified the screening of people entering Zambia for swine flu and called on Zambians to be on the look out for any symptoms of the disease.
Ministry of Health spokesperson, Reuben Mbewe said in Lusaka yesterday that the symptoms of the disease include sneezing, coughing, body pains, fever and a bit of diarrhoea.
"People should immediately seek health attention anytime they developed such signs," Dr Mbewe said in an interview.
He said the Ministry of Health had deployed more staff and intensified checks at borders, international airports and any other entry points.
And National Airports Corporation Ndola International Airport manager, Vivian Sikanyeela has expressed worry over health authorities' failure to quickly respond to a request to treat the establishment of a swine flu screening facility as an emergency.
Mr Sikanyeela said in an interview in Ndola yesterday that after making a formal request for health personnel to protect the public from any possible out break of swine flu from people entering the country, there had been slow response.
"We only have a first aid office operated by one man and we are worried because this is not enough in the face of the global epidemic," he said.
He said the airport was concerned with the Ndola District Health Management Team (DHMT)'s alleged failure to screen passengers at the entry and exit points.
When contacted for a comment, Ndola DHMT acting director Lillian Nyendwa, said efforts aimed at putting in place swine flu screening facilities at the airport were underway.
In Livingstone, health teams have been mobilised to check the swine flu at busy borders in Kazungula, Sinazongwe, Victoria Falls, Chirundu and the Livingstone International Airport.
A check at the Livingstone International Airport found that tourists coming into the tourist capital were being screened.
"Livingstone, as a tourist capital, needs to be checked, and for Southern Province, there are so many other international entry points, hence the importance for us to be on high alert,"
"As you may be aware, this disease is highly contagious, so we want to make sure that we are on alert and that we protect our personnel that we have sent in the field, the community and the patients, if there will be any," said one of the health officers found on the spot.
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