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Ukraine Preparing for Bird Flu Pandemic in Spring

Posted on: Monday, 30 January 2006, 12:00 CST

Text of report by Interfax-Ukraine news agency

Kiev, 30 January: Ukraine is preparing for a possible pandemic of bird flu during the spring migration of birds, [Ukrainian] Health Minister Yuriy Polyachenko has said.

"The point is that today Ukraine is in a risk zone of countries that are likely to have a flu pandemic in the spring," he told a news conference in Kiev today.

He said that on Sunday [29 January] the Health Ministry had a meeting with other ministries and agencies to discuss the ways of avoiding the human factor [apparently cases of human infection] in the bird flu problem this spring.

They developed and approved a joint action plan that outlines efforts that will be undertaken by doctors, veterinarians, the Emergencies Ministry and the State Border Service.

"We are preparing for the worst," he said.

He said that Crimea [where tens of thousands of birds have been culled to prevent the spread of the virus] already has duty hospitals with ten beds in each isolation ward and stocks of specific drugs for ten courses of treatment. Such duty hospitals will be set up in every regional centre soon. He said that there would be training alerts and evacuations for personnel, especially in public places and airports, the minister said.

Source: BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union

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