MIAA buys scanners vs bird flu, SARS

The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) has recently purchased three thermal scanners to monitor the entry of travelers who may be infected with either Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) or avian influenza.

Each thermal scanner costs P3.5 million, according to Marcelino Yumol, MIAA assistant general manager for finance and administration. He said the scanners are similar to the ones used at Changi airport in Singapore.

Yumol added that the scanners, manufactured by Singapore Technologies Inc., will speed up and make more efficient the screening of passengers passing through the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

The three new scanners, expected to be delivered by March, will allow passengers to just line up and walk through the equipment. The 10 older scanners currently maintained by the NAIA need several seconds before they can determine a person’s body temperature.

The MIAA purchased four of the 10 scanners for P500,000 each during the height of the SARS scare early last year. Two other scanners, worth P2 million to P3 million each, came from the Department of Health (DOH) while flag carrier Philippine Airlines donated the remaining four scanners.

Airport authorities will isolate and interview any passenger with a body temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. They will also read the passenger’s body temperature twice using a thermometer.

If the passenger shows more symptoms of bird flu or SARS, he or she will be quarantined and not allowed to board the plane.

To help facilitate the traffic of incoming and departing passengers, the MIAA has also augmented the number of doctors and health experts from the DOH who man the thermal screening checkpoints at the NAIA’s two international passenger terminals.

In March last year, MIAA general manager Edgardo Manda said NAIA will maintain strict health checks on passengers until 2005 to prevent SARS and other diseases from entering the country within the next two years.

He said the health checks are part of a comprehensive action plan agreed upon by airport officials from various countries.

"We are still looking at the problem seriously since science has not yet developed a vaccine against SARS," he said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. called yesterday for transparency in the use of the P250-million standby fund the government will allocate for its campaign to prevent the spread of bird flu to the Philippines.

Villar, who chairs the Senate finance committee, warned that unscrupulous officials may use the fund to finance their election campaign.

He said it is important for the government to formulate specific guidelines on the proper use of the funds and not simply issue vague general directives.

"Putting up a multimillion peso fund to fight bird flu is laudable, but at the same time, it is susceptible to graft and corruption especially during the campaign season," Villar said.

President Arroyo earlier designated Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit to lead a multi-agency campaign to prevent the entry of bird flu into the country.

Bird flu has devastated poultry farms in 10 Asian countries and killed 17 people, prompting local officials to impose a ban on live birds and poultry products from countries affected by bird flu.

Villar urged health and trade officials to launch an intensive information drive on bird flu, a disease that some experts believe may be a bigger problem than SARS.

"Adequate and correct information will be our best defense against bird flu," he said.