The Kano State government has said that airlines at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport were not issuing screening forms containing travel history of passengers as part of measures to check the spread of coronavirus in the country.
The commissioner for health, Dr. Aminu Tsanyawa who disclosed this at a press conference following the report of the first coronavirus index case in Lagos said the airlines were supposed to issue a form to each passenger on board to ascertain their traveling history before arriving at the airport but some do not comply.
“There is a form that is supposed to be filled by each passenger even while onboard for the traveling history of that individual for the past two to three weeks. Some of the airlines are not complying,” he said.
At MAKIA, he said adequate measures had been put place to thoroughly screen any passenger.
Once a passenger arrives at the airport, he goes to the screening area called primary screening area.
“Our staff are there to take the temperature of the patient, or if he has any symptoms like difficulties in breathing. Once he has any of these, there is need for further screening we called secondary screening area.
“After this, if we have further suspicion of the patient there is where we have holding area before our people are communicated and before we transfer the patient to our isolation centre.
“Any passenger that comes through MAKIA will pass through all these screening processes to ensure that nobody comes into Kano with this kind of disease,” Tsanyawa said.
He also said staff from Nigeria Centre for Decease Control (NCDC), Aminu Kano Teaching hospital as well as those from the state and others trained on how to administer the screening and also prevent themselves had been deployed to the airport.
“We also have an ambulance fully equipped and staffed dedicated to the airport so that in case we have any suspected cases that worth to be mobilized to Yar-Gaya isolation centre, we would not have any issue.
“Other measures instituted by the state following the outbreak in Lagos include conduct of state emergency and response committee meeting, development of incident action plan, activation of Rapid Response Team (RRT) and reactivation of the state Isolation centre at ‘Yar-Gaya.
“Moreover, Kano State government has planned to further intensify COVID-19 surveillance in the state through the engagement of traditional and religious leaders, training of health personnel in tertiary, secondary and primary health care, point of entry by collaboration with MAKIA, Railway and National Union of Road Transport (NURTW) authorities for screening and reporting of suspects,” he added.
