A thermoscanner monitors a passenger at Suvarnabhumi Airport. The hi-tech device helps identify people with unusually high temperatures who will be required to undergo testing for diseases.

The additional personnel and medical facilities are part of the country's preparedness plan against a feared worldwide influenza pandemic.

The ministry said by the New Year it would double the number of disease-control officers at the airport from 16 to 32. The number of doctors posted to the airport would increase to three, according to Disease Control Department director-general Dr Thawat Suntrajarn.

Five additional thermoscanners would be installed at entry points. The scanners check passengers for unusually high temperatures or fevers - indicators of possible infections like bird flu or Sars, he said.

While the airport had more than 100 immigration counters to accommodate as many as 45 million passengers a year there were a limited number of thermoscanners, Thawat explained.

"This is not convenient - especially as the airport is expected handle a considerably large number of passengers," he said.

The department would install a panel of thermoscanners which would allow arriving passengers to walk freely past them without even realising they were being checked.

Those with body temperatures of 38 degrees Celsius or higher would be taken for a consultation with a doctor and a disease screen - particularly human influenza or bird flu. Those with suspicious symptoms or a medical history of flu would be quarantined at a nearby facility, said Thawat.

At present passengers arriving from countries known to harbour certain communicable diseases were subject to thermoscanning and disease screening.

In cases of suspected sufferers on board an incoming flight, aircraft were required to land at an isolation area where disease-control teams would screen passengers, explained chief Port Health Officer Dr Apichart Mekmasin.

As well as bird flu, yellow fever was a major health concern for disease control units at the airport, he added.

There had been no reported case in Thailand yet and Apichart said it would be "catastrophic" if a carrier was allowed to slip in.

Passengers arriving from 43 countries in Africa and South America were required to undergo yellow-fever screening.

If they could not be declared free of the disease - or produce a vaccination certificate - they would be treated for the fever and detained for monitoring, he stated.

Arthit Khwankhom

The Nation