Criticism against Kerala health department for alleged lapses in handling monkeypox case

Authorities were accused to have been remiss in conducting proper screening at the airport; then not arranging an ambulance

A day after the country’s first monkeypox case was reported in Kerala, the state health department was accused of lapses in handling the patient, criticised for the lack of screening at the airport.

The 35-year-old, suspected of having monkeypox, had visible symptoms of rashes when he arrived at the airport here from Sharjah on Tuesday via an IndiGo flight.

He first went by himself to a private cooperative hospital in his hometown Kollam, from there he returned to the medical college here in a taxi—this even as the hospital authorities alerted district health officials about the suspected monkeypox case.

This led to the criticism of health authorities, who were accused to have been remiss in conducting proper screening at the airport; then not arranging an ambulance for the patient to travel from Kollam to Thiruvananthapuram medical college.

Read | Health Ministry raises alarm on monkeypox, issues guidelines

A route map issued by the health department officials on Thursday mentioned that the patient visited another government hospital in Kollam and that he did not go to his home—this was later found to be untrue.

Kollam district collector Afsana Perween told reporters on Friday that the private hospital did not alert the health department about the suspected monkeypox patient, hence he had gone by a taxi. However, the private hospital authorities told the media that the health authorities were alerted in time.

The district administration later urged the media not to publish their briefing.

Defending the lack of screening at the airport, health department officials said there was no such protocol in place.

Explained: Monkeypox, symptoms and prevention

At a high-level meeting convened on Friday by state health minister Veena George, it was decided to start screening at airports, especially persons coming from countries where monkeypox has been reported.

Meanwhile, none of the 16 persons—who were in primary contact with the infected person—were showing any symptoms. The condition of the infected person was also said to be stable. All in primary contact were advised to remain in home quarantine for 21 days.

Alerts were sounded in five districts where the passengers of the IndiGo flight in which the infected person was flying lived.

The health minister said that massive awareness campaigns would soon be carried out about monkeypox to counter the spread of misleading information about it.

A team from the National Centre for Disease Control is likely to visit Kerala at the earliest.