Chennai:

While Chennai is keeping close watch on passengers arriving from  Ebola affected countries at the airport, the country could have additional expertise to rely on as the first batch of seven officers from across India who underwent two-year training in ‘Epidemic Intelligence Services’ (EIS) at the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in the  USA will be returning next month.

The Union government had entered into an agreement with the USA in 2010  for a training programme to be conducted by its Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),  Department of Health and Human Services, in coordination with  National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Ministry of Health, India.

Dr R. Mohan Kumar from Chennai, who was the only candidate from southern states to undergo the programme, says it included training in preventing a disease outbreak, identifying it at inception and in ways and means of handling  an outbreak should it hit a region.

While the second batch of 15 candidates undergoing the course has no representative from Tamil Nadu,the third batch, which will begin training in October will  include Dr Sri Kalpana, medical officer at the Institute of Public Health in Poonamallee.