Ebola scare: Hard landing for int’l arrivals as no soft copy of self-declaration forms

New Delhi: India’s nearly month-old requirement for all international arrivals to fill a self-declaration form following the outbreak of Ebola in parts of Africa has led to chaos at many airports in the country.

The reason: This form is so far not available online for passengers to fill before leaving for India, something the country had done during Covid-19.

Airlines distribute it onboard en route aircraft and passengers fill them up for submitting it at immigration counters.Health ministry sources say aviation authorities are working on making the form available online on the Air Suvidha portal. “That should happen soon,” they added.

Many other countries also have this requirement, but their forms are available online.

In Singapore, for instance, it is accessible via a QR code.But till that happens, there’s pain for passengers as not all inbound flyers fill the form onboard and many struggle to do so in the pre-immigration area at the airport on arrival. “If the form is not complete, the same is pointed out at immigration.

That increases average time taken at immigration as the completed form deposited here is sent to Airport Health Organisation under the health ministry, which then tracks symptomatic passengers coming from affected regions of Africa,” said several officials.The problem can be as small as finding a pen to fill up the form.

Monday, a video of a pen tied by a rope at Mumbai Airport to fill up these forms went viral for its “Z-plus security”.

Both airlines and airport operators have asked govt to make this form available online given the troubles the hard copy is causing.Earlier this month, India had mandated that all international arrivals — both passengers and crew members — need to fill a self-declaration form in wake of the Ebola outbreak in parts of Africa.

Passengers who had direct contact with a person suspected/confirmed to have the Ebola infection must immediately report to the airport health officer/health desk before immigration clearance.The mandatory guidelines are: “All travellers arriving in India are to fill their self-declaration form completely and accurately.

Passengers who had direct contact with a person suspected/confirmed to have Ebola infection must immediately report to the airport health officer/health desk before immigration clearance.”They are required to tell airline or medical staff if they have experienced symptoms like “fever, vomiting, fatigue, diarrhoea, headache, unexplained bleeding, muscle pain, sore throat post-travel.

Monitor your health for 21 days after arrival.

If symptoms develop, seek medical care instantly and share your travel history,” the bureau says.In a move reminiscent of Covid times, Directorate General of Civil Aviation late last month issued a protocol to prevent the potential transmission of Ebola for airlines who will now have to place such passengers who might be showing symptoms of being affected to the rear end of aircraft “to minimise exposure to other passengers”.

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