Bengal takes steps to counter Ebola threat

With India on high alert for the dreaded Ebola virus, arrangements to screen passengers from Africa have been put up at the Kolkata and Bagdogra airports, besides setting up isolation wards in government hospitals.

Screening facilities have been set up at Kolkata's Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport and the Baghdogra airport, a health official said.

West Bengal Health Services director Biswaranjan Satpathy said an isolation ward has been set up at the Beliaghata ID Hospital in Kolkata and a similar ward will be set up at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital.

Meanwhile, state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury demanded the setting up of a 24-hour helpline for providing information on the disease.

"The state government was caught napping when the encephalitis acquired mammoth proportions, so we demand that a 24-hour helpline should be set up here so that such a scenario doesn't recur. Prevention is the only remedy here," he said.