Fill in health forms correctly, travelers urged

Passengers walk past a thermal scanner at the medical quarantine area at the arrival section of Manila’s International Airport in Paranaque, south of Manila, Philippines. AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–The Department of Health (DOH) has urged Filipinos and foreigners flying into the Philippines, especially those coming from countries afflicted with highly infectious and deadly diseases, to be honest in answering the health checklist distributed at the airports.

“We are appealing to them to be as honest as possible in answering the health declaration checklist because it has its purpose,” DOH spokesman Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy told reporters on Friday.

The health official said the checklist was vital in helping the government prevent the entry of diseases such as the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Corona Virus (MERS-CoV) and the even deadlier Ebola virus.

The DOH made the appeal following a MERS-CoV scare last week, where a 37-year-old Filipino nurse was initially reported to be positive for the virus.

The nurse had returned from Dammam, Saudi Arabia, via a Saudi Airlines flight on Aug. 29 and boarded a Cebu Pacific flight to her hometown General Santos City on Aug. 31.

The initial report was relayed by a nurse supervisor in Dammam to a female coworker, who had traveled with the 37-year-old nurse. Both nurses did not wait for the results of their medical tests in Dammam.

But on Thursday, the DOH obtained the result of the medical tests conducted on the two nurses in Dammam, which showed that both were negative for MERS-CoV.

A test conducted by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, a facility under the DOH, confirmed the 37-year-old nurse was negative for the virus.

“We observed there are those who are not seriously answering the checklist. Some give contact numbers that are not active, among other things,” said Lee Suy, referring to the health declaration form the DOH requires arriving passengers to fill in as part of quarantine procedures.

The checklist asks passengers about their travel histories, their personal data, health assessment, and other pertinent information and advisories.

Despite the scare caused by the initial report on the Filipino nurse’s health condition, Lee Suy said the DOH did not err in publicizing the report and in contact-tracing more than 300 passengers on both flights.

The incident also tested the government’s capacity to handle the possible entry of the dreaded virus in the country, said the health official.

“What we have realized here, because of our previous experiences, is it is easier for us now to facilitate such situations,” he said.