Labour camps most at risk from swine flu - top official

A top health official from the World Bank Group has warned that the new multi-strain swine flu could spread “like wildfire” through labour camps should it reach the Gulf.

Guy Ellena, director of health and education at the International Finance Corporate (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, said the cramped living conditions seen in worker camps would fast-track the spread of infection.

“Migrant workers are among those most at risk, as they live in such close proximity,” he said. “Large concentrations of people, living in less than adequate hygiene will be exposed much more than those living in a better environment. It would spread like wildfire.”

Low and middle-income nations are equally vulnerable, Ellena said, as residents have limited access to healthcare.

Among UAE labour camps, one room is typically shared by four or more workers.

Yousuf Abdulghani, executive director, policies and strategy at the UAE’s Ministry of Labour, said the government has not outlined any special precautions for worker camps in the event of a possible flu outbreak.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday raised the alert level for the outbreak to an unprecedented phase four – its second jump in three days - as Costa Rica, Switzerland and Peru bring to 12 the number of countries that have reported cases of the H1N1 virus.

Only two cases have been confirmed in the Middle East, both in Israel.

GCC health ministers are attending a hastily convened meeting in Doha, Qatar on Saturday to firm up plans to fight the potential pandemic. A second meeting is to be held next week, to coordinate screenings at air and sea ports between the countries.

Speaking at a press conference held on Tuesday, minister of health Humaid Mohammed Obeid Al Qutami said the UAE has a national pandemic plan on standby and a “good stock” of Tamiflu, an antivirals that has proved effective on infected patients.

What we don’t want to do is create a panic,” Al Qutami said. “Our key message is that the country is virus-free and that everything is ok.”

The ministry said it was awaiting instructions from the WHO before mobilising its pandemic plan, set up in the wake of the 2003 avian flu scare, but said it has already warned the country’s airports to be alert for flu-like symptoms. The government has also banned the import and sale of pork and live pigs.

Qatar and Saudi Arabia’s health ministries have issued alerts warning against non-essential travel to affected areas, while Bahrain has suspended the imports of live pigs or pork products.

Dr Mansour Al Zarouni, head of pathology and laboratory medicine and chairman of the infection control committee at Al Qassimi Hospital, Sharjah’s largest hospital, criticised GCC governments for rolling out pandemic plans based on the avian flu, or H5N1 virus.

While swine flu passes easily between humans, unlike avian flu which can be contained.

“Avian flu is not the same virus. This is now a human disease. The same plans, the containment measures, don’t apply,” he said. “The genie is already out of the bottle. Our resources should go in terms of supporting hospitals.”

Private and government hospitals across the UAE polled by Arabian Business said they had not yet received any instructions from the health ministry.

Dr Al Zarouni said that in the event of a pandemic, the UAE would not have enough ICU (intensive care unit) beds to cope.

“Hospitals don’t have enough isolation wards for a pandemic, so we’re talking about the use of ICU beds,” he said. “It’s impossible to get one in the UAE because of the number of road traffic accidents here. ICU wards are 110% occupied.

“In the UK, they’re estimating a quarter of the population could be affected. If we have five million residents here, that would be more than a million people. Are we prepared to take care of them?”