Written By: Pavitra Sampath | Updated : October 18, 2014 1:10 PM IST
Amidst reports of Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan's claim that India is prepared to tackle the Ebola virus, an infectious diseases and public health systems expert at Harvard Medical School, Ashish Jha said that the risk of India seeing an Ebola patient is 'very, very high,' and predicted that India may well have 'at least a few cases before the calendar year is over'. (Read: After killing thousands, Ebola said to be crippling the minds of West African children)
A very scary prospect, Ashish Jha said in an interview with The Hindu, 'As long as the outbreak continues in West Africa, the chances that someone will end up in India and then, develop symptoms is very high.' He also said the India is probably not as well prepared as it should be and when the first case does crop up it will most probably be in a crowded public hospital in some mid-size or large city, where there may be serious questions about whether the institution had provided sufficient training to manage someone, even temporarily, until substantial expertise could be brought in. Substantially increasing the risk of the virus spreading very quickly. (Read: Harsh Vardhan says India is ready to handle the disease)
In response to this a WHO spokesperson said to The Hindu, it would 'not be surprising to see sporadic cases emerge in other countries as we have seen in Senegal, Nigeria and the U.S.,' adding that if precautions were put in place, these sporadic cases would not lead to outbreaks. (Read: Obama gets Ron Klain on-board for fight against Ebola in states)
Jha also added that even though there were several centres that were said to be prepared for the crisis, the amount of training the staff there might have is still a matter of concern. The WHO's Director for Global Capacities, Alert and Response, said that there was a difference between an Ebola case arriving in a country and spreading in that country. She said 'It is possible that a case will arrive in a country and what WHO is doing is getting countries that may see some of these imported cases; prepared, [with the objective] to stop the transmission from occurring in these countries.' Adding to this Prof. Jha said that India has very few people who can handle the virus (doctors and nurses) as compared to the population of the country. (Read: Are we really ready for the Ebola virus?)
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