ANDRE WORRELL
Medical chief of staff at the Mt Hope Women’s Hospital Dr Karen Sohan is calling on citizens of T&T to do their part in helping to eradicate the spread of the Zika virus. Her pleas follows the diagnosis of five unborn babies with brain abnormalities whose mothers contracted the Zika virus during their pregnancy.
The Sunday Guardian quoted Sohan as saying that “four of the cases were in keeping with anomalies caused by the Zika virus.”
In an interview yesterday, Sohan said: “I am calling on citizens to do their part by cleaning up their environment and ridding it of any artifacts that would harbour mosquitoes through which the virus is transmitted.
“ Local documents show that the virus does not come from vaccinations or chemicals in the water supply as had been speculated but from virus carrying mosquitoes.”
Sohan noted that the Ministry of Health, through the specialist committee set up which she heads, has been doing all that it could to assist pregnant women in this difficult time.
“I would like to really commend the Minister of Health for his support on this project.
“I have found him genuinely interested in dealing with this issue confronting pregnant women and women considering pregnancy, and he has always been willing to listen to any suggestions or advice provided by us in the management of Zika-related cases.”
Sohan also called on private healthcare providers to not take advantage of the situation but to give assistance to pregnant women in an ethical and responsible manner.
“I am asking healthcare providers to sympathise with women who are pregnant at this time and not take advantage of the situation. I have seen instances where ultrasounds have been poorly performed saying babies had abnormalities when in fact they did not, and these women were charged heavy sums to acquire these inaccurate results. It is a difficult time for pregnant women right now,” she said.
When asked to comment on what was being done to reassure pregnant women and whether that the ministry was effectively managing the spread of Zika, Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh, responded by text-message saying: “I can assure you that we are doing all that can be done.”
This country has recored 621 cases of Zika and of that figure, 392 were pregnant patients.
In February, Deyalsingh appointed Sohan to develop specific processes and procedures to respond to the diagnosis of the virus in patients, with special emphasis to pregnant patients and developing foetuses.