Health Ministry on the lookout for water-borne diseases
Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony
Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony

GIVEN the likelihood of various water-borne diseases spreading as a result of recent flooding, teams of Ministry of Health workers have been deployed to flood-affected areas across the country to monitor the situation.
Minister of Heath, Dr Frank Anthony, who made this disclosure during Tuesday’s COVID-19 update with the Department of Public Information (DPI), said there have been no reports, thus far, of water-borne diseases in the areas being monitored.
“In Region One, they have been constantly monitoring. From the reports that I’ve had this morning, they (Region One) haven’t had any outbreaks of anything. The same goes for Regions Seven, Eight and Nine. There are a few isolated cases of skin rashes and so on that people have been reporting, but that has been dealt with,” he stated.
He further noted that an outreach team responsible for making checks in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) would be revisiting the Pomeroon on Tuesday to do additional checks for diseases.

“The team has been there before, but they’re going back in today. In addition to monitoring water-borne diseases, they would also be doing vaccination in the Pomeroon. In Region Seven, we have teams that have gone into the Upper and Middle [Mazaruni], and they are monitoring for water diseases caused by flooding, and they are also going to be doing vaccination in those communities that they visit,” Anthony explained.
In Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni), the outreach team has assisted the CDC in moving flood-affected residents in the area of Tumatumari to the primary school there, where a shelter has been set up in the instance that a resident or family is in need of a place to stay, he said.
He noted that similar exercises to the ones in Regions One, Two, Seven, Eight and Nine are being conducted in Regions Five (Mahaica-Berbice) and Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).
He added that the distribution of skin ointments, bleach to be used for purifying water supplies, and Oral Rehydration Salts, is currently ongoing, as the Ministry remains on the lookout for water-borne and diarroheal diseases.
“So, this is an ongoing exercise, and we continue to monitor to make sure that all the health centres, health posts… they have adequate supplies of medicines,” the minister concluded.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

All our printed editions are available online
emblem3
Subscribe to the Guyana Chronicle.
Sign up to receive news and updates.
We respect your privacy.