Kuwait Times

Published Date: May 03, 2009

DOHA: The ministers of health of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries decided yesterday to put the health facilities of the region on high alert against the swine virus outbreak. During their emergency meeting, the ministers agreed to activate national surveillance and early warning systems of their countries after the outbreak of the epidemic in several countries of the world.

They followed EU countries, Canada and Argentina in advising their nationals to avoid travel to the countries hit by the epidemic, according to the final communique of the one-day meeting. The meeting urged continuation of the follow-up of the developments of the fatal disease worldwide, assessment of domestic situations and revealing all related information in a transparent way.

It called for exchanging information and expertise among the health departments of the GCC countries and appointing a liaison officer to serve as a standing committee in each country to arrange contacts among regional health departments and concerned international organizations, notably the World Health Organization (WHO).

The ministers agreed to announce any suspected case of inflection as soon as possible through the liaison officer and the Executive Office of the GCC Health Ministers' Council, the communique said. They agreed to put the human and technical resources of each country at the disposal of the other GCC countries as part of the collective measures to guard against the emergence of the fatal disease.

They urged providing the central labs of the GCC members with the necessary equipment to prevent and diagnose the H1N1 virus and treat any possible cases in the future in cooperation with WHO. They agreed to accredit the three laboratories of Saudi Arabia and the US Naval Medical Research Unit No.3 (NAMRU-3) as reference laboratories for the Arabian Gulf region.

The meeting recommended launching an educational campaign about the disease, its risks and the precautions against it and launching a website for this purpose, the communique revealed. It called for following up international efforts aiming to develop a proper vaccine against the virus and keeping in contact with the possible producers of such vaccines in a prelude to providing it to the GCC members. It asked national medical firms to step up efforts to develop such a vaccine in line with accredited intern
ational standards and in cooperation with the GCC Secretariat, the communique added.

Kuwaiti State Minister for Housing Affairs and Acting Health Minister Moudhi Al-Humoud said her country had taken tight measures against the increasing threat of swine flu. Speaking to KUNA, Al-Humoud said the Ministry of Health has established an operation center which would coordinate efforts to combat the flu with other state's institutions, adding that similar measures were taking on the GCC level.

Secretary-General of the GCC Abdulrahman Al-Attiyah allayed the fears of the residents of the six states about the hazards of swine flu. "We should not exaggerate panicking about the swine flu epidemic especially when we have a successful experience in dealing with bird flu (H5N1)," Al-Attiyah told reporters after attending the emergency meeting of health ministers. "We have been able to defeat bird flu through the collective measures and close coordination among the GCC countries," he affirmed.

The GCC chief voiced confidence in the ability of the healthcare systems of the Arabian Gulf region to guard against the outbreak of the swine flu through enhanced cooperation with WHO. The one-day emergency meeting was also attended by Director of WHO's Regional Office for the Middle East Dr Hussein Al-Jaza'eri and Director-General of the Executive Office of the GCC Health Ministers' Council Dr Tawfiq Khoujah.

The executive office of the GCC Health Ministers' Council is making every possible effort made to enhance the preparedness for any health hazards in the (Arabian Gulf) region," Al-Attiyah said. He added that the GCC members have developed the necessary plans for dealing with any eventuality and are in contact with the other Arab and foreign countries in following up the developments of the fatal disease.

The final communique of the emergency meeting advised the GCC nationals to avoid travel to the countries hit by the epidemic. Commenting on the advice, Al-Attiyah said it does not mean a travel ban to and from such countries. - KUNA