PORT HEALTH

Port Health

The Port Health Unit is under the purview of the Environmental Health Division. Its
main objective is to reduce the risk of entry of infectious diseases into the country and
support the implementation of the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005).

Port Health works together with the Immigration & Checkpoint Authority (ICA) to
screen passengers from yellow fever endemic countries. Passengers from endemic
countries without valid yellow fever vaccination certificates are required to undergone
risk assessment to check whether they show any symptoms of yellow fever. If fit to
enter, they are issued with a health alert card, and then placed under surveillance for a
period of up to six days.

Port Health works together with the Maritime & Port Authority (MPA) to manage the
inbound health clearance and quarantine of vessels at the sea port. The primary focus is
to regulate and control the arrival of vessels from plague-infected countries and those
with death or sickness on board. In addition, Port Health also carries out checks on ship
sanitation standards and issue Ship Sanitation Control Exemption Certificate (SSCEC)
as per the International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005.

The issue of coffin permits for the import, export or transhipment of human remains
also falls under our purview. This permit is required when repatriating a deceased
person’s remains to their home country

Port Health Services

Port Health services are based at each of the border control posts throughout the
country.

The functions of port health services at Point of Entry as follows:

1. To carry out environmental health inspection

2. To carry out vector control activities

3. To inspect incoming vessels

4. To issue free pratique to incoming vessels

5. To screen incoming and outgoing passengers for infectious diseases as necessary

E.g. Inspection of health declaration forms, vaccination documents

6. To inspect and oversee the import and export of human remains/corpses.

7. To provide public health emergency response with the cooperation relevant agencies
at Point of Entry

As part of prevention and control of infectious disease from entering of this country, the
port health unit was also responsible on the surveillance of infectious diseases in
ensuring that all health declaration form and vaccination documents had been provided
by incoming travellers and to alert the relevant authorities if a traveller was suspected
of having an infectious disease of public health concern.

Terminologies used

Aedes aegypti index"

means the ratio, expressed as a percentage, between the number of houses in a limited
well-defined area on the premises of which actual breeding-places of Aedes aegypti are
found, and the total number of houses examined in that area;

"aerosol dispenser" means a dispenser holding a pressurized formulation which

produces an insecticidal aerosol when the valve is opened;

"aircraft" means an aircraft making an international voyage;

"airport" means any airport designated by the Member State in whose territory it is
situated as an airport of entry and departure for international air traffic, where the
formalities incident to customs, immigration, public health, animal and plant
quarantine and similar procedures are carried out;

"arrival" of a ship, an aircraft, a train, or a road vehicle means—

(a) in the case of a seagoing vessel, arrival at a port;
(b) in the case of an aircraft, arrival at an airport;
(c) in the case of an inland navigation vessel, arrival either at a port or at a frontier post,
as geographical conditions and treaties or arrangements among the States concerned,
under Article 85 or under the laws and regulations in force in the territory of entry, may
determine;

(d) in the case of a train or road vehicle, arrival at a frontier post;

"baggage" means the personal effects of a traveller or of a member of the crew;

"container ( freight container)"

means an article of transport equipment

(a) of a permanent character and accordingly strong enough to be suitable for repeated
use;
(b) specially designed to facilitate the carriage of goods, by one or more modes of
transport, without intermediate reloading;
(c) fitted with devices permitting its ready handling, particularly its transfer from one
mode of transport to another;
(d) so designed as to be easy to fill and empty.

The term "container (freight container)" does not include vehicles or conventional
packing;

"crew" means the personnel of a ship, an aircraft, a train, a road vehicle or other means
of transport who are employed for duties on board;
"day" means an interval of twenty-four hours;

"direct transit area"

means a special area established in connexion with an airport, approved by the health
authority concerned and under its direct supervision, for accommodating direct transit
traffic and, in particular, for accommodating, in segregation, passengers and crews
breaking their air voyage without leaving the airport;

"Director-General" means the Director-General of the Organization;

"diseases subject to the Regulations" (quarantinable diseases) means cholera, including

cholera due to the eltor vibrio, plague, and yellow fever;

"disinsecting" means the operation in which measures are taken to kill the insect vectors
of human disease present in ships, aircraft, trains, road vehicles, other means of
transport, and containers;
"epidemic" means an extension of a disease subject to the Regulations by a
multiplication of cases in an area;

"free pratique" means permission for a ship to enter a port, disembark and commence
operation, or for an aircraft, after landing, to disembark and commence operation;

"health administration" means the governmental authority responsible over the whole
of a territory to which these Regulations apply for the implementation of the health
measures provided herein;

"health authority" means the authority immediately responsible in its jurisdiction for
the appropriate health measures permitted or prescribed by these Regulations; "imported
case" means an infected person arriving on an international voyage;

"infected area"
is defined on epidemiological principles by the health administration reporting the
disease in its country and need not correspond to

administrative boundaries. It is that part of its territory which, because of population

characteristics, density and mobility and/or vector and animal reservoir potential,
could support transmission of the reported disease;

"infected person" means a person who is suffering from a disease subject to the
Regulations or who is subsequently shown to have been incubating such a disease;

"in flight" means the time elapsing between the closing of the doors of the aircraft
before take-off and their opening on arrival;
"in quarantine" means that state or condition during which measures are applied by a
health authority to a ship, an aircraft, a train, road vehicle, other means of transport or
container, to prevent the spread of disease, reservoirs of disease or vectors of disease
from the object of quarantine;

"international voyage" means—

(a) in the case of a ship or an aircraft, a voyage between ports or airports in the
territories of more than one State, or a voyage between ports or airports in the territory
or territories of the same State if the ship or aircraft has relations with the territory of
any other State on its voyage but only as regards those relations;
(b) in the case of a person, a voyage involving entry into the territory of a State other
than the territory of the State in which that person commences his voyage;

"isolation", when applied to a person or group of persons, means the separation of that
person or group of persons from other persons, except the health staff on duty, in such a
manner as to prevent the spread of infection;

"medical examination"
includes visit to and inspection of a ship, an aircraft, a train, road vehicle, other means
of transport, and container, and the preliminary examination of persons, including
scrutiny of vaccination certificates, but does not include the periodical inspection of a
ship to ascertain the need for deratting;

"Organization"means the World Health Organization;

"port" means a seaport or an inland port;

"ship" means a seagoing or an inland navigation vessel making an international voyage;

"suspect" means a person who is considered by the health authority as having been
exposed to infection by a disease subject to the Regulations and is considered capable of
spreading that disease;

"transferred case" means an infected person whose infection originated in another area
under the jurisdiction of the same health administration;

"valid certificate", when applied to vaccination, means a certificate conforming with the
rules and the model laid down in Appendix