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SA not ready for killer disease
17/03/2003 17:04 - (SA)
Mahap Msiza
Cape Town - Despite a global alert from the World Health Organisation of a highly contagious form of pneumonia which has already caused nine deaths overseas, South Africa's health and airline officials contacted on Monday by News24 failed to say whether or not there were mechanisms in place to screen incoming flights.
International airlines joined health authorities on Monday in efforts to check the spread of the disease, which has infected more than 450 people worldwide so far.
The disease, named by the WHO as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), has left four people dead in Asia and Canada.
Last week alone, the virus infected more than 150 people, mostly medical workers.
Officials at Johannesburg International Airport, South Africa's largest point of entry, could not say whether personnel at the airport were deployed to screen for SARS' sufferers.
After dilly-dallying by some officials, the South African Airways issued a statement in the afternoon. The statement said that the airliner has taken note of the outbreak".
Avoiding calls
Earlier during the day, despite continued broadcasts from international and local TV and radio stations of reports of the outbreak, some officials were avoiding News24's calls, while some could not comment for fear of reprimand.
One official though, from the Western Cape's provincial government, told News24 that while his office had not received any communication from the national office, it had taken measures to monitor the situation at the Cape Town International.
Danny Abrahams, the provincial spokesperson for the health department, said that his office had issued an instruction to Port Health unit at Cape Town International to monitor the situation.
Port Health is a division of the health department that deals with health-related issues at South African ports.
Abrahams said: "I doubt if there's been any communication from the government."
While he said his office had instructed Port Health to monitor the situation at the Cape Town International airport, he had not received any feedback from the airport officials by mid afternoon.
"We've asked them (Port Health)... what they are going to do."
However, Port Health officials at the airport, who asked not to be named, told News24 that they had not received anything from the provincial office.
Abrahams said that he was not aware if other provinces - such as Gauteng and the Eastern Cape - had put in place measures to deal with the scare.
No communique
A Port Health employee - based in Gauteng - confirmed that her unit had not received any communication from the government.
Rich Mkhondo, SAA's spokesperson, who earlier told News24 that the airline was aware of the killer flu reports, without elaborating further added that "standard procedure" in cases like this will have to take its due course.
According to him, foreign airlines are obligated to declare the health status of their passengers after lending. This was confirmed by another industry source who said that the captain of the plane signs a form to confirm that none of his passengers are a potential danger.
Asked whether there were special arrangements to monitor certain flights (from affected countries), he said: "We don't fly there... we don't get flights from there."
In a statement sent to News24 after 16:00, Mkhondo indicated that SAA did, in fact, fly to Hong Kong, Thailand and Australia.
News reports on Monday indicated that the disease is suspected to have originated from Australia.
Pilots briefed
The SAA health division has briefed pilots and flight attendants on symptoms related to the disease and steps to be taken, Mkhondo said. However, the statement did not say what practical measures had been taken since WHO issued the alert.
"SAA has also asked its pilots and flight attendants to follow the guidelines issued by the WHO concerning SARS," Mkondo said.
Another media spokesperson, for the Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), said that she was not aware of any communication from the health authorities and therefore couldn't comment further.
Jacky O' Sullivan told News24 that ACSA will only act if it gets a directive from department of health.
It was still not clear on Monday afternoon what efforts were in place to assure South Africans that they are safe from the killer disease.
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