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Riyadh: Member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) set up a higher committee to adopt precautionary measures that aim at preventing bird flu from transferring to humans.
Saudi Arabia said on Sunday that 21 persons, who showed symptoms of bird flu, were placed under medical supervision at hospitals around the Kingdom.
Latest official statistics noted that 222,000 birds died or being culled so far in the Kingdom after catching the deadly H5NI. It said that migrated birds are the cause of the latest outbreak of the disease.
The director-general of the executive council of GCC health ministers, Dr Tawfeeq Khoja underlined that the GCC states have taken all necessary measures for containing bird flu.
He said a high committee comprising the six-member states' ministries of health and agriculture as well as municipalities and national commissions for wildlife preservation and protection, was established to deal with the subject.
Dr Khoja, who chaired the committee's first meeting in Riyadh on Monday, said that there was continuing coordination between the concerned ministries for conducting contingency plans to deal with any developments in regard to the disease.
He said the anti-H5NI medicine was made available in all GCC states. He said the concerned bodies in the member states would be provided with all information related to the disease.
Meanwhile, the GCC health ministerial council discussed in its meeting opened in Riyadh yesterday a number of topics on its agenda pertaining to health affairs in the member states.
Dr Mansour Al Hawasi, the Saudi health ministry undersecretary for executive affairs, said the meeting, among other issues, will discuss the unified pricing of medicine, nursing services at the member states, measures for combating cigarette smoking and the establishment of a GCC commission for health specialties.
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