AUSTRALIA could face a significant threat if Ebola reaches Papua New Guinea, Queensland’s health minister says.
LAWRENCE Springborg says the “porous” border between the two countries has long been a concern from a health perspective, including in relation to the spread of a multi-drug resistant strain of tuberculosis.
“The porous border concerns me in general. I wouldn’t even want to speculate what would happen if Ebola actually turned up in PNG,” Mr Springborg told ABC on Friday. “People can draw their own conclusions around that.” He said the two countries have an arrangement that allows people from parts of PNG and Australia’s most northern islands to flow freely across the border for the purposes of familial visits. “But that’s not something that is in our jurisdiction,” he said. Mr Springborg said Queensland was ordering extra equipment in the event of Ebola reaching the state and infected patients having to be moved. He said the state already had one isopod, a device used to safely isolate infected patients when they are being moved, and there were another couple on order. Mr Springborg said he was satisfied Queensland was ready for a worst-case Ebola scenario, but would not detail what that might look like. “An Ebola case in Australia would be a very bad scenario, let alone going beyond that,” he said. World leaders have declared the Ebola outbreak the worst global health emergency in years, so far killing 4500 people. Earlier this week, the World Health Organisation warned there could be up to 10,000 new cases a week in two months time. Mr Springborg expressed faith in Queensland’s safeguards and said the United States would not be grappling with the infection of a second nurse, who treated an Ebola patient who died in Texas, if it had followed the protocols Queensland Health is applying. “Our protocols are in line with the best around the world,” he said. The minister said international travellers typically arrived in Queensland through airports in Brisbane, Cairns and Gold Coast. “They all have very, very clear requirements about what is required in those hospitals,” he said.