22 Jul 2009

Cooks border staff short on gear to protect against swine flu

3:08 pm on 22 July 2009

The Cook Islands immigration department says the country's border staff lack masks and other gear needed to protect them from possible swine flu cases.

The department's director, Kave Ringi, says the country has had five confirmed cases so far, three of whom were returning travellers.

But Mr Ringi, says there's no funding for essential pandemic gear for some front-line workers.

"We're short of gloves, short of masks and the question is who's going to pay for the vigilance for our border staff. And the only way we can manage that is for each agency, for example customs and immigration, will have to fund because health couldn't continue to fund gloves and masks because of their limited budget."

Kave Ringi says they haven't set aside the funds for the gear yet.