Swine flu scanner installed at Phuket Airport

PHUKET: Phuket International Airport and two other major Thai aviation gateways have installed thermo-scanners to screen foreign passengers for swine flu.

The two other locations now using the infrared sensors are Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport and Chiang Mai International Airport.

Travellers found with suspicious flu symptoms that could develop into the swine influenza will be asked to undergo treatment at the state-run Bamras Naradoon Hospital in Nonthaburi (on the outskirts of Bangkok), Phaijit Warachit, deputy permanent secretary of the Public Health Ministry, said yesterday.

Thailand has five such scanning devices at its disposal. They beep upon detecting anyone passing the scanner gates with a body temperature above 37 degrees Celsius, which is standard for humans.

Each unit comprises an infrared thermal camera, a processor and a monitor to show the results of readings.

Since each gate can scan large groups at a time – not just people in a row – passenger flow should go smoothly at arrival areas in those airports, said Lilit Sirisapjanant, a public health official stationed at Suvarnabhumi.