Asean swine-flu meet might be held here

By : Pongphon Sarnsamak, The Nation

Published : April 30, 2009

Source : http://www.nationmultimedia.com/search/read.php?newsid=30101702&keyword=Asean+swine-flu+meet+might+be+held+here

Thailand may host an urgent Asean public-health ministers' conference to formulate strategy and action plans for the 10 member countries in fighting the outbreak of swine flu.

The disease is suspected of having already killed as many as 159 people and caused illness among 2,498 others in Mexico.

Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai yesterday said Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan had told Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva there should be an Asean conference to discuss the issue as soon as possible.

Surin had asked Cambodia to host the event, but Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen suggested Thailand would be a better place to stage such a conference.

Thai health and other authorities played a leading role in mitigating cross-border epidemics like Sars and bird flu. However, the abrupt cancellation of the Asean Summit in Pattaya due to political rioting has damaged the country's reputation.

"We're now discussing where the Asean meeting on swine flu should be held," Witthaya said.

Speaking at the first meeting of a national emergency committee to oversee prevention operations against the swine flu - also known as "Mexican flu" - he added that the conference should take place as soon as next week.

Meanwhile, the committee endorsed a number of actions to prevent the spread of the disease. These are in the fields of public health, livestock management, mitigation and multi-agency collaboration. It also sought a Bt120-million budget to fund health promotion and flu prevention, as well as other public-relation plans.

Chompoonute Cherie Nakornthap, an adviser to the foreign minister, said the Foreign Ministry had asked for a supply of protective face masks for Thais currently in Mexico.

There is also a worst-case plan to evacuate all 105 Thais in Mexico and fly them back to Thailand. Hotel rooms around Suvarnab-humi Airport have been reserved for quarantine purposes should this be necessary.

The government also ordered all hospitals in Bangkok to put on standby 50 airborne-infection isolation rooms to provide emergency medical service for anyone who might be infected with the Mexican flu, even though no cases of infection have yet been reported in Thailand.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration announced it would hand out 100,000 face masks to taxi drivers and foreign tourists tomorrow.

Chulalongkorn Hospital vice director Dr Theerapong Charoenvit reported that test results confirmed that a 42-year-old woman who had travelled from Mexico and was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday had contracted seasonal flu - and not swine flu, as was feared earlier.