Precautions against the spread of the Ebola virus: |29 August 2014

Passengers ordered to disembark in Nairobi

The scene could be the start of a feature film with different sequences shot at various locations in Victoria and Nairobi, with a range of actors of different nationalities:

The plane was already taxiing on the runway of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi as it prepared to take off en route to Seychelles. The pilot was suddenly ordered to stop still on the runway. Passengers wondered what was going on, some even thinking that the aircraft had developed engine problems. It was pulled back to a parking slot where an air bridge was attached to a front door.

After a few minutes the door opened and some airport staff appeared at the front of the aisle. After a short brief with the crew they approached a group of passengers, two male and one female, and spoke gently to them. After a brief exchange of words the three stood up from their seats, opened the overhead compartments, pulled down their hand luggage and started walking towards the door and off the plane.

At this moment, the other passengers did not know what was happening and had no other choice but to wait for the disembarked trio’s luggage to be unloaded, for their flight, KQ 450, to be re-cleared for takeoff before taxiing back to the runway. When at last one hour later they could relax in their seats for the two hour forty minutes journey to Mahé, they still could not make out why three names had been stricken off the passengers’ list.

What they ignored is that while preparing to board the flight, the three members of the same family of Spanish nationality had apparently informed their insurance company back home that they were not feeling well; suffering from diarrhea and vomiting with abnormally high body temperature. Then followed a relay of quick international correspondences: the insurance company immediately contacted their travel agencies in Nairobi and Victoria. The local agency informed the Seychelles’ health authorities which in turn communicated the information to the Victoria Kenya Airways office. Decision was subsequently taken to take no risk but to order that the suspected passengers do not enter the country.

So their holiday trip has for the moment stopped in Nairobi where their tropical vacation has temporarily been altered to health tourism. The start of the feature film was over, and fortunately the décor of the end of the first episodes was not our ‘Lopital Sesel’. Surely the ministries of Health and Tourism would have liked some revenue from health tourism, but not in these circumstances, in view of the Ebola epidemic currently ravaging West Africa.

The scenario could itself look like the story line of a media campaign against the spread of the virus. However, it was in this case not seen on TV but an authentic situation which happened on Tuesday morning of this week.

The incident which has been confirmed by Kenya Airways, shows the vigilance of the local authorities and the effort made by the Ministry of Health to keep Seychelles free of Ebola. Just as confirms Dr Jude Gedeon, the public health commissioner.

“It also shows the high level of alertness within different agencies and the good synergy among them. We cannot afford to take risks as the situation has gone out of control in West Africa. Although the three tourists had not been in an infected area but rather on a safari trip in Tanzania, we simply could not take the risks. Even if it does not mean that they are suffering from the disease, I believe it was a wise decision due to the symptoms shown,” Dr Gedeon has commented.

The health commissioner has added that apart from measures to keep our country free from the deadly virus, necessary steps have been taken to contain it from spreading if ever it is introduced here.

“We will not always be completely prepared but necessary infrastructure and logistics are in place for the worst case scenario,” ensured Dr Gedeon.

Meanwhile, the virus is still spreading with a fresh outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo this week, and increasing cases in Sierra Leone and Liberia. The French volunteer medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières, yesterday described the epidemic which has hit 2,500 persons killing 1,500 of them, as a “humanitarian catastrophe”.

The film’s climax may show happy images of the three cured tourists arriving in Seychelles for after all a well-deserved paradise holiday. But surely, we would not like our little Seychelles to be the scene of an apocalypse movie!