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Residents want quick clean-up

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Although Diego Martin was identified as “ground zero” for the Zika virus in T&T, having recorded the first official patient diagnosis on these shores, funds allocated to aid in the fight to eradicate its carrier, the Aedes aegypti mosquito, have not yet reached the Diego Martin Regional Corporation (DMRC). 

This was revealed by corporation chair Kathy Christopher yesterday. 

Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Franklin Khan announced last week that the Government had allocated $7 million to the 14 municipal corporations to combat Zika. The DMRC’s budgetary allocation from this was $500,000. 

But while the Ministry of Health’s Insect Vector Control Division started fogging and spraying in St George West areas on Friday, including the Victoria Gardens community of the first patient, a 61-year-old woman, Christopher said they were still waiting for that funding, which will now become more critical with residents in the region calling for more services to clean drains and other areas which are possible breeding sites. 

“We are still waiting for word regarding funding, but we already had plans in place for dealing with Zika since a national emergency was declared on the Zika virus by Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh,” Christopher told the Sunday Guardian on Friday after the initial spraying exercise was completed. 

“When the Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Franklin Khan met with all the various corporation chairmen and CEOs at Kent House on January 29, along with the Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh to brief them, they were given a mandate to budget and initiate plans to combat the Zika virus and the corporation met and activated the EOC (Emergency Operation Centre) on January 30.

“The DMRC’s clean-up campaign to eliminate potential breeding sites for the Aedes aegypti mosquito includes cleaning and clearing of empty lots, watercourses, drains, collection of bulk waste and tyres and an education drive.”

She said the days from February 4 to 15 were scheduled for clean-up operations in the corporation’s jurisdiction, but they were a couple days behind schedule with the exercise. She said when the corporation executives made the initial schedule they thought funds would have been available to them during the period. She said due to the non-receipt of funds the drive was affected by a resource problem and it was postponed.

Despite this, Christopher said, the corporation expected to complete mopping-up operations of the entire region by Tuesday or Wednesday. She said the DMRC did major clean-ups periodically, such as during the Christmas season, and wished they could do it on a regular basis but they were hampered by a lack of resources. 

Asked about the situation where homeowners were not home when public health officials came to conduct inspections or to spray for Zika, Christopher said residents were concerned about the confirmed case and were now calling the DMRC frequently asking when their areas would be sprayed.

She said the insect vector unit would conduct spraying operations in the neighbourhoods from 4 to 5 am and prior to this residents would be notified by microphone crews the day before. She said they were trying to ensure their clean-up was in sync with the Vector Control Division’s spraying.

Bigger fines a good idea

Obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Jehan Ali told the Sunday Guardian that the Government’s proposal to increase the penalties for littering for absentee landlords that let unused property become overrun with grass, as well as for people collecting old tyres and throwing appliances in watercourses that could create potential breeding grounds for mosquitoes, was a good one and could act as a deterrent. 

During his contribution to Friday’s debate in Parliament on the Zika public health emergency in T&T, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi said the Government was moving to amend legislation to impose stiffer fines and longer imprisonments on citizens guilty of breaching litter protocols for Zika and other health issues.

Speaking to reporters afterwards, Al-Rawi said he had reviewed the existing regulations and proposed to increase the fine up to a maximum of $3,500 from the current fine of $500.

Ali, a former head of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology department at the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH), lauded this decision. He said there may be other conditions associated with the Zika virus, such as birth defects and neurological disorders. He said investigations were underway on claims of links with the Guillain-Barre Syndrome, an auto immune condition involving nerve cells, causing muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis and death and the cases of microcephaly in Brazil, with babies born with abnormally small heads and brains. 

Ali said there have been cases reported of the Zika virus being sexually tranmitted and also via blood transfusion; he said this was not a minor problem facing the country and could escalate. 


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