KARACHI, Nov 10: Sindh government has established reporting centres at Civil Hospital, Karachi; Liaquat Medical College Hospital, Hyderabad; People’s Medical College Hospital, Nawabshah and Chandka Medical College Hospital, Larkana, for the medical/chemical examination of suspected postal mail received in various department of the Sindh government.

All departments are advised to send suspect samples arriving through postal mail to any of the above reporting centres for further examination by the NIH, Islamabad.

In this regard, instructions for mail handlers are being issued to all Sindh government departments.

The instructions for mail handlers are as under:

Mail handlers in various departments/institutions should wear latex gloves, face-masks and preferably a cap while sorting departmental mail.

It is better if one person handles the mail on one table in a separate room/place. It is advisable that fans should be switched off in the room/area, polythene bags/plastic shoppers, plastic sheet and/or a plastic bowl, etc, should be at hand to cover the opened suspect envelope/package and to warp it for sending to the laboratory for analysis in case an envelope or parcel is found containing powdery material. While opening, the handler is advised to keep the envelope in the same spot under plastic cover and hold his/her breath temporarily so that no powder is inhaled.

Panic is not advised. Instead, the handler should go straight to the washroom to wash his hands and/or exposed areas of the skin with soap and water thoroughly, including areas in-between the fingers and under the nails. He must inform his colleagues, security staff or his seniors immediately to contact police emergency. The police emergency squad will assist in proper packing of the material in the readily available polythene bags (triple bags) or reseal the envelop and put it in a properly sealed plastic wide-mouthed jar and send it to the nearest reporting centre, with a letter providing the required information, such as source of envelope/parcel (from whom received), to whom addressed, date and time of receipt and any other details.—PPI