Bombay high court on Tuesday rapped the state and central governments for depending on self-declaration by passengers arriving from West African countries on whether they have contracted the deadly Ebola virus.
A division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Girish Kulkarni heard a public interest litigation by activist Ketan Tirodkar stating that the government is not equipped to deal with Ebola and urged for a ban on passengers alighting from the aircraft at the Mumbai international airport.
The judges were miffed that affidavits filed by the state and Centre spoke of deployment of medical teams and quarantine measures but did not mention physical screening of passengers for symptoms by experts after alighting from aircraft.
“You are acting on declaration by passengers. You are not doing it yourself,” remarked Justice Oka.
The judges said neither state nor Centre are able to make an “elementary statement” that passengers are being checked at the airport. “What is the use of having facilities at hospitals if you are allowing them to move around?”asked Justice Oka.
The judges have asked Centre’s advocate Rui Rodrigues to inform them on Wednesday on how many flights are coming from Ebola affected areas daily and the medical teams deployed at the airport.
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