AAI moots pre-departure screening for passengers

V Ayyappan | TNN August 14 Chennai: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has suggested that domestic air passengers be put through pre-departure screening to prevent the spread of the A(H1N1) influenza. The proposal was put forward on Thursday at a meeting of airport health officers, Union government’s health officers, immigration officials and AAI officials at the Chennai airport on the preventive steps taken at the airport. “I suggested that pre-departure screening was ideal because passengers with flu symptoms could be prevented from flying and infecting others en route. This is more logical than testing and quarantining a passenger after he has flown,” said airport director K Natarajan. However, if it is implemented across the country, departing passengers may have to report earlier than usual. “If three or four flights arrive at the same time, there will be a pile-up of passengers inside the domestic arrivals when all queue up for screening. So, pre-departure screening is the best way,” Natarajan said. Health officials had earlier hinted that the ministry might take up screening of domestic passengers at airports. When the influenza broke out in the US and the UK, Union home minister P Chidambaram suggested that infected countries should screen passengers before they flew to India. But, it was ignored. “But we can always tell airports here to screen domestic passengers before they board flights,” said an official. Though Southern Railway began screening passengers of trains from Mumbai after Maharashtra declared a pandemic, neither the Union health ministry nor the Union civil aviation ministry has decided on screening domestic airline passengers. Meanwhile, passengers from infected areas like Pune, Mumbai and Delhi is concerned over the lack of screening at airports. “I stayed in Pune for 20 days and flew to Chennai on Thursday. But, I am surprised to see that airport is not screening passengers though the flight has come from a place were 13 persons have died of the flu,” said Shajahan, a passenger.