Airport nurse denies claim temperature machine stolen
Published:Thursday | January 30, 2020 | 12:00 AM
Andre Williams, Gleaner Writer
A public health nurse at Kingston’s Norman Manley International Airport is disputing claims that a digital handheld temperature machine was stolen from the medical booth there.
Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Karen Webster Kerr made the claim at a press conference on Tuesday, saying the discovery was made a week earlier.
The Health Ministry had called media personnel for a briefing following concern about the Coronavirus.
This morning, Tufton was at the airport to tour its health facility.
That’s where public health and quarantine nurse Deborah Udo Udo told him there was no truth to claim that the machine was stolen.
The temperature machine is used to detect high fever among passengers passing through the facility.
“I don’t know where that information generated from. Here is it,” said Udo Udo, presenting to Tufton, a machine which was being stored in a drawer.
However, the nurse said that machine along with another had been malfunctioning.
According to Udo Udo, the other machine was sent to the Kingston and St Andrew Health department as a sample to seek a replacement.
Earlier this week, the Health Ministry sent two additional temperature machines to the Norman Manley Airport as part of the response plan for the Coronavirus.
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