With eight laboratory-confirmed dengue-related deaths and 712 laboratory-confirmed cases as of Saturday, Opposition MP Dr Lackram Bodoe is questioning whether the government is doing everything neccessary to prevent dengue deaths.
Speaking at the UNC’s Sunday media conference at its Chaguanas headquarters yesterday (Sunday, August 11), Bodoe said CARPHA had urged its member states in November to take definitive action to reduce dengue and place greater emphasis on mosquito control in homes and communities.
He asked if the government ignored the warnings issued by CARPHA and did not put preventative measures in place.
“The Insect Vector Control Division (IVCD), under the Health Ministry, is responsible for mosquito control in homes and communities. The ministry admitted that this outbreak was expected based on the seven-ten year cycles attributed to dengue outbreaks.
“What measures were put in place to ensure that the country was prepared? Was the IVCD properly resourced with funding, vehicles, chemicals, etc., to ensure it could adequately meet increased demands for spraying? How many cycles of peri-focal work were done, these are the home inspections where IVCD officers would inspect your house and leave notifications, give advice or even citations to ensure you eliminated breeding sites? I’m reliably informed over the last five years very little of this has been done.”
Bodoe asked about the frequency of spraying. He said the Health Minister consistently said there was a risk of mosquitoes building up resistance of pesticides.
“There is anecdotal evidence from residents suggesting only infrequent spraying has been taking place over recent years. How can insecticide resistance develop if spraying is limited and there was no more exposure to chemicals?”
He said the ministry could not absolve itself by passing the responsibility for source reduction solely to the public. He asked whether the number of cases and deaths were being under-reported.
“Statistics are important in managing a crisis. We are being told that the confirmed case figures only include cases confirmed by CARPHA, and while this is important, cases confirmed by other sources need to be included. Will the private labs be accredited to test for confirmed cases so we can have reliable figures? How timely is data collection from private labs? I’m told this data is only collected once a month? Are the numbers of people who visited private doctors, tested positive, and died from dengue included?”
Bodoe urged the public to continue to eliminate mosquito breeding sites, wear protective clothing, use mosquito repellent and nets, and to maintain vigilance in the young, the elderly, pregnant women, immune-compromised people, and those with comorbidities.
He also urged the government to continue spraying, to make diagnosis and treatment easier, cut down on wait times and ensure that there are experienced and competent staff on the front lines to pick up and treat the symptoms of dengue haemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome.