Yesterday, the Ministry of Health (MOH) carried out simulation of an Ebola suspected case at the King Abdul-Aziz International Airport (KAIA) on one of the flights coming from one of the African countries in order to determine the level of readiness and preparations of the pilgrims’ entry ports regarding dealing with the infectious diseases.
The implementation of the simulation at Pilgrims' City in KAIA was overseen by the advisor to the Minister of Health, the Vice Chairman of the Command and Control Center, Dr. Anees Sindi, who has inspected all its steps.
Meanwhile, all the relevant government sectors in charge of KAIA attended all the stages of the simulation, spearheaded by the Director General of KAIA, Eng. Abdulhameed Balaari.
The simulation involved applying the emergency plan of fighting the viral hemorrhagic fever (Ebola) . It is made up of several stages, including reporting the suspected case, responding to it, examining the case and isolating it and transporting it to the hospital, in addition to reporting the case to the relevant authorities and bodies.
The representative of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Hassan Al-Bushra, attended as an independent evaluation party to evaluate the different stages and the response associated with the experiment.
The simulation included moving the Rapid Response Team assigned this year in the health center in KAIA. The team is made up of a group of specialists who are to be called on an urgent basis upon detecting a suspected case. It includes a physician, nurse, health controller, Infection control specialist and a coordinator.
Likewise, the simulation included conducting the epidemiological surveillance of the patient and those in contact with them, calling the number (937) of the MOH emergency center to report the case. In addition to this, it involved reporting patient outputs, removing and disinfecting them, and disinfecting the pilgrim's terminal.
Further, the response team should be disinfected before undressing the uniform designated for handling the case, and getting rid of the uniform and all the medical tools used when tackling the suspected case.
Within the same vein, Eng. Abdulhameed Balaari, the Director General of KAIA, commended the MOH's successful simulation for fighting the epidemic diseases and putting its readiness to the test during the Hajj season. He also highlighted the continuous coordination between MOH and the Airport administration.
For his part, Dr. Hassan Al-Bushra, the World Health Organization (WHO) representative in the Kingdom, , has lauded the emergency plan executed by the Ministry of Health (MOH) at all air, land and sea ports of the Kingdom. He also branded the simulation as a successful model that will benefit all countries of the world; particularly that it has been written in details and filed at the WHO.
It's worth mentioning that the MOH will continue carrying out its simulation by conducting a new one at the Jeddah Islamic Port, tomorrow (Wednesday).
It is worth noting that present at the simulation were the MOH spokesperson; and the Supervisor-General of the MOH Media, Health Awareness, and Relations Center, Dr. Khalid bin Mohammed Almarghlani, Advisor to the Minister of Health , Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Saeed, the Assistant Deputy Minister for the Supportive Medical Services, Dr. Munirah bintHimdan Al-Osaimi, the Director General of the MOH Emergency Department, the Director of Health Affairs Directorate in Jeddah Dr. Sami bin Mohammed Ba-Dawood, and Dr. Khalid Abu Haimid , Dr. Wail Tashkandi from the Command and Control Center and the Director General of Health Control Center at KAIA, Dr. Abdulghani Al-Malki, and the Director General of Health Control Center at Jeddah Islamic Port, Dr. Adil Trkistani.