RIYADH, 14 January 2005 — A senior official at the Ministry of Health (MOH ) dismissed worries about the potential of any epidemic spreading through pilgrims coming from tsunami-battered countries.
Dr. Yaqoob Al-Mazrooa, assistant deputy minister for preventive medicine, told Arab News that MOH has taken all necessary preventive measures against any outbreak of diseases.
“We have put all our health care personnel at the air, sea, and land ports in the Kingdom on high alert to detect any cases of epidemic diseases among pilgrims coming from those countries,” he said.
Dr. Al-Mazrooa said the typical disease that usually spreads in natural disaster areas is cholera “because of the use of contaminated water due to the destruction of the sources of clean water”. “We have instructed our health care staff to keep any person having diarrhea in quarantine, and examine him thoroughly as a preventive measure to stop cholera from spreading.”
Reports coming from the tsunami-affected areas lately, especially from the World Health Organization (WHO) have warned about the possibility of epidemics due to lack of hygienic environment after the tragedy.
