State machineries : How concerned are they for our security?

Health ministry

In the US, H1N1 Flu has taken alarming percentage. US is among the few countries for which travel advisory is given to passengers travelling abroad. India has got many deaths from H1N1 flu. THE MAJORITY OF THESE CASES HAVE COME UP BECAUSE OF PEOPLE WHO WERE AFFECTED WITH H1N1 FLU COMING FROM US.

The Indian health ministry says it does effective screening of passengers coming from abroad. To identify whether a person is suffering from H1N1 Flu, his blood sample needs to be taken and checked for which results are available after few days. It is not possible to do so for the large no of passengers coming from abroad. The only thing which the health ministry personnel do at the airport is wear masks and accept a passenger’s self declaration to identify a person who had/may have H1N1 flu. It is very likely the person himself will be unaware of these symptoms and even if he does know, he will hide it from the officials (This actually led to affected patients escaping from health officials and led to spreading of this disease in such major proportion in India).

If the health officials follow these steps, we have a more realistic chance of H1N1 not becoming a epidemic In India-

1. Conduct blood tests of all foreigners coming from abroad(No such test is taken when these foreigners travel from their native countries that is an affected person can easily pass from his/her country.

2. Do the same procedures for all Indians who have spent say greater than three month’s stay in any of the affected countries These people have a greater chance of being affected.

3. Have Infra red sensors installed which detect any abnormality in body temperature.If a passenger shows this symptoms get his blood test done despite what is written on his self – declaration form.

4. Create greater awareness at the airport to the passengers travelling to affected countries by means of posters, travel advisories being displayed prominently in Airport.

5. Last but not the least the health officials should understand the bigger picture in case the disease breaks as an epidemic and not treat this as mere routine.

CISF

At the airport CISF works very diligently. But there focus is on dangerous items being carried on board the aircraft. Little do they realize that any accident in the Airport premises will cause greater damage of life and material as compared to that in the aircraft. CISF does not do any checking of baggage when a person enters the airport. CISF allows any passenger to enter the airport only around 2 hours of departure of domestic flight or little earlier only if the airlines baggage counter inside the airport is open.

They presume that by allowing people to go inside the airport in this time frame will ensure that the passengers will pass their baggage at the X-ray machines immediately and the risk to the airport can be minimized.

They do not realize that any unscrupulous person can choose to go inside and not pass his baggage in the X-ray machine and leave the building leaving his bag behind. This eventuality can happen whether you leave a person 2 or 5 hours inside the airport. However due to this outlook of CISF many a times bonafide passengers who are in transit have to suffer as they are kept waiting for airline counters inside airport to open.

For solving any problem, its root needs to be identified. By just following superficial solutions we might just be putting it under the carpet for some time. The government machinery needs to back up their efforts with foresight and planned actions.