Bagdogra airport on Ebola alert

SNS, Siliguri, 23 November 2014: Days after an Indian national was quarantined at the New Delhi airport after traces of the Ebola virus were found in him, the Bagdogra airport is strictly following the rules in its bid to detect any case of the deadly virus. 

The airport near here is following instructions from the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA). 

"We are strictly following the instructions. The DGCA regularly sends us advises on Ebola. So far, no case has been detected at the Bagdogra airport," said the airport director Rakesh Sahay. 

Airport sources said passengers have to fill in a declaration form stating if s/he had visited any of the four African countries--Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria in the last 21 days. At the immigration centre passports are checked to see if any passenger had traveled to any of the countries. 

If found so, s/he is taken to an isolated room at the airport and steps taken on the advice of doctors, according to the sources. 

An isolation ward for the Ebola Virus Disease was opened at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH) in August. 

"We have guidelines to treat those patients," said NBMCH medical superintendent Dr Sabyasachi Das.