Mass screening of overseas passengers apace at four international airports to detect Mpox symptoms: T.N. Health Minister

Mass fever screening at Chennai, Tiruchi, Coimbatore, and Madurai airports to detect Mpox symptoms as a precautionary measure.

Mass fever screening of overseas travellers arriving at Chennai, Tiruchi, Coimbatore and Madurai international airports was apace as a precautionary measure to detect in them symptoms of Mpox which has been declared as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organization, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma. Subramanian said at Tiruchi on Tuesday (September 3, 2024). 

The screening was being done using thermal scanners for overseas passengers to detect if they had fever, Mr. Subramanian said, adding that an isolation ward had been set up at the four airports.

Speaking to journalists after inspecting the screening facilities at the Tiruchi international airport, Mr. Subramanian said a separate ward to accommodate Mpox infected persons had been set up at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital at Chennai, K.A.P. Viswanatham Government Medical College Hospital at Tiruchi, Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai and Government Medical College Hospital at Coimbatore with 10 beds in each one of them. 

The Health Minister said over 27,000 international passengers had been screened for fever at Tiruchi airport so far. The Minister said he had earlier inspected the screening facilities put in place at Chennai and Coimbatore airports while the Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine T.S. Selvavinayagam had inspected the Madurai airport last week.

Replying to a query on increasing cases of dengue, Mr. Subramanian said an inter-departmental coordination meeting was held in this connection at Chennai on Monday. Although there was a rise in dengue cases, the deaths due to it were very less with the number being four so far this year, he added.

Mr. Subramanian said the Food Safety department officials had found packets of Chinese noodles from a wholesale stockist at Tiruchi and taken the samples for testing. This action followed the recent death of a 15-year-old girl of Tiruchi who was found dead in her house after consuming Chinese noodles and a soft drink. The girl had purchased the Chinese noodles online, the Minister said.

School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, District Collector M. Pradeep Kumar and Health Department officials accompanied Mr. Subramanian during the inspection.