The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will establish a unified surveillance system in two years in a bid to meet the universal vulnerability caused by infectious diseases, local newspaper Gulf News reported on Friday.
The UAE Ministry of Health (MoH) and the health authorities of Abu Dhabi and Dubai are unifying their surveillance and reporting systems for infectious diseases, said Abdul Gaffar Al Hawi, assistant undersecretary of the MoH.
The new unified system, which is likely to take two years to finish, would be done electronically, Al Hawi said.
"With one system, all diseases will be caught and everybody will know and be ready to tackle them. Patients will be easier to isolate and contacts will be easier to trace," he added.
Under the unified system, some diseases will require immediate notification, such as poliomyelitis, HIV and tuberculosis, while reporting of other diseases can be delayed.
As a disease control precaution, the UAE will build a negative pressure rooms to isolate infectious travelers from others at Dubai International Airport, which registered a passenger throughput of 28.7 million in 2006.
The country is also considering screening workers for infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis and HIV, before they enter the country.
Source: Xinhua
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