Karachi: Although Pakistan has the laboratory capacity and diagnostic kits to detect the deadly Ebola virus at the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad, public health experts are questioning whether the country’s poorly equipped Border Health Services (BHS) can identify and isolate infected travellers at airports and other points of entry before the disease spreads locally.
World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the ongoing outbreak of Ebola disease caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus strain in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), raising global alarm over cross border transmission risks.
Serious gaps in Pakistan’s border health surveillance and emergency response systems have raised concerns over the country’s ability to prevent the entry of deadly infectious diseases after the World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda an international health emergency.
The concerns intensified after an elderly woman fainted at the departure lounge of Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport a day earlier but no doctor from the federal Border Health Services (BHS) was present at the airport health desk to provide immediate medical assistance.
Officials said Civil Aviation staff had to contact Sindh health department personnel stationed nearby, who rushed to the scene, administered first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and shifted the woman to a local hospital after reviving her.
Health experts said the incident exposed the weak state of health emergency preparedness at Pakistan’s international airports despite the presence of the Border Health Services department under the federal Ministry of National Health Services.
Public health experts and infectious disease specialists warned that Pakistan’s airports, seaports and border crossings lacked adequately trained epidemiologists, infection prevention experts and emergency response staff needed to detect and manage dangerous pathogens entering the country through international travel.
They said diseases such as Ebola could remain undetected during the incubation period, which ranges from two to 21 days, making routine temperature screening alone ineffective in identifying infected travelers.
The Bundibugyo strain of Ebola has already caused dozens of deaths and hundreds of suspected infections in Congo and Uganda, while WHO has cautioned that the actual scale of the outbreak could be much larger.
Officials at the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad confirmed that Pakistan possessed diagnostic kits, laboratory capacity and testing facilities for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola virus but acknowledged that enhanced surveillance at airports and ports was essential despite the absence of direct flights from affected African countries.
NIH officials said infected travelers could still arrive through connecting flights or maritime routes and stressed the need for strengthening the Border Health Services through capacity building, trained human resources and merit based appointments.
“Pakistan’s surveillance and healthcare systems are under pressure and require strengthening to effectively respond to emerging infectious disease threats,” an NIH official said.
Health experts warned that weak surveillance and delayed response mechanisms could endanger the country’s health security, particularly at a time when Pakistan was already dealing with local transmission of Mpox and other infectious diseases.
They maintained that timely sharing of epidemiological data, transparent disease reporting and integrated surveillance systems were essential for rapid detection and containment of outbreaks.
Experts also recalled that Pakistan had previously detected and managed a case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), saying emerging infections linked to international travel were no longer a theoretical threat for the country.
Responding to concerns, Border Health Services officials claimed they were fully prepared to handle any emergency situation and had successfully detected several Mpox cases at airports in recent months before shifting suspected patients to designated isolation facilities across the country.
BHS officials further said they had initiated mandatory HIV screening of deportees arriving from certain countries and were closely monitoring the evolving Ebola situation in Africa in coordination with national and international health agencies.
The WHO has warned that the current Ebola outbreak involves the rare Bundibugyo strain, for which no approved vaccine or specific treatment currently exists, heightening fears of international spread through travel and population movement.
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