By Jeff Trotman
The Region Ten Democratic Council is calling on the government to implement a more coherent and structured response that includes proper testing and treatment of persons suspected of contracting the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus.
APNU Councillor Maurice Butters, during the statutory meeting of the RDC last Thursday, expressed concern about the lack of information in the Region on the virus. Butters, Chairman of the Region Ten Health and Environment Committee, told his fellow councillors that the Management Board of the Linden Hospital Complex had not met since June and he wanted to know the status of the chikungunya virus in Region Ten.
Regional Chairman, Sharma Solomon said it is a serious matter and it is frightening that there is no response to the disease in the Region and the people of the Region are not aware of any mechanism that is in place to deal with the disease. “We’re all waiting to get sick and I pray to God many persons don’t because it is not something nice,” Solomon said. “I had it, or I still do. My knees are still creaking right now …. I still get headaches.”
Butters said that according to the experts, even when one gets better, the virus stays in one’s body for years. The Regional Chairman then asked the Clerk of Council, Yolanda Hilliman, for an update on the response to the chikungunya disease. “Don’t leh we polish nutten,” he added. “If we don’t have the resources or a response let us know and the people in the Region that we are sitting ducks.”
Hilliman said that the last report she received in her capacity as Regional Executive Officer (REO) stated that there were five confirmed cases in the Region. “Presently, we are responding by collaborating with the M&TC in the recently executed programme of fogging ….”
“Madame Clerk let me correct you,” Solomon interjected. “We’ve been asking for fogging long before something name chikungunya came on the scene. So, fogging is not a response to chikungunya. Fogging is a response to what we already had – mosquito infestation. What are we doing about the chikungunya?”
ALP Councillor, Audwin Rutherford, asked for the date of the Clerk of Council’s report and she responded that it was over two months earlier. The Regional Chairman said that he read a report of over 5,000 confirmed cases in the Region. He asked if there is any testing mechanism in the Region. The Clerk of Council said no, which evoked giggles from the fifteen councillors, who were present.
APNU Councillor Leslie Gonsalves said a top health official in the country has stated on television that while there is concern over a potential chikungunya epidemic, there is no available test in the country to prove whether people are, indeed, suffering from chikungunya.
Gonsalves, the current TUC President, cautioned that although the symptoms might be similar to those of chikungunya, persons could very well be suffering from another disease. “And then, people say that the infection is caused by mosquito like malaria, then, everybody in Linden should be infected. We need to deal with this matter … as an emergency … because a lot of people talking that they get chikungunya. But, what is chikungunya?”
“That is the point,” Solomon said. “The resources that are available to this council will never be sufficient to give a proper response. It will have to come from the (Health) Ministry – directly from the government. And I am saying there is a serious deficiency with how this matter is being treated at the level of the government in ensuring that the Regions are equipped, moreso, this Region … bearing in mind that this Chairman suffered … symptoms … of the same chikungunya virus. We have people in this community, who are suffering with those same symptoms and we are unable to confirm, or even say what a course of action will be …. There is nothing coordinated coming out of the government on this, absolutely nothing. Fogging is not an excuse because this council would have been asking for fogging since last year when Wisburg (Secondary) and One Mile (Nursery) and Half Mile (Nursery) – all these schools were infested with mosquitoes.”
Suspended
He then asked for the standing orders for the meeting to be suspended for the Region’s Health representative to give an update on what has been put in place to deal with chikungunya in the Region. Medex, Sylvia Sinclair, responded in place of the Regional Health Officer, Pansy Armstrong, who was absent. The Medex said the Linden Hospital Complex is treating suspected cases according to signs and symptoms with samples being taken from suspected cases. She read a memo, dated 5 August 2014, that stated laboratory confirmed cases were identified at Wismar Housing Scheme and One Mile, Wismar, in Region Ten.
The memo, which was sent to all physicians from Dr. Nadira Ramcharran, Director, National Public Health Reference Laboratory, also stated that cases were also confirmed in Regions Five and Six – at Canje, New Amsterdam, Corentyne, Orealla, West Coast Berbice, West Bank Berbice, Cumberland, Canefield, Port Mourant, Bath Settlement, Blairmont and Mahaicony; in Region Four – at Mahaica, Goedverwagting, Sparendaam, Liliendaal, Cummings Ville, Kitty, Queenstown, East and West Ruimveldt, Albouystown, Werk-en-Rust, Success and Craig; in Region Three – at La Grange, Vreed en Hoop, Crane, Cornelia Ida, Zeelugt, Phoenix Park and Greenwich Park. The memo also advised that with immediate effect, chikungunya testing should only be done on patients from new areas excluding those that were mentioned.
Gonsalves said there is need for a more “hands on approach” by the Health Ministry to the threat of the virus because there is no advisory or information about the virus that is targeting Region Ten. APNU Councillor Stanley Collins said he was not satisfied with the memo because a resident of One Mile or Wismar Housing Scheme could have chikungunya-like symptoms but could be suffering from some other ailment. “I wonder if the test is so expensive that they don’t want to waste the value of the things used to do the testing?” Collins asked.
Noting that the memo was circulated two months earlier, the Regional Chairman said that he lives in Amelia’s Ward and he is aware of more than five people, who have suffered symptoms of the virus. “I am saying on behalf of this council that we are calling on the government of Guyana to implement a more coherent and a more structured response to the chikungunya virus so that it takes care of testing and treatment and even a response mechanism to deal with this issue,” Solomon said. “There is absolutely none that satisfies this Region and the residents of the Region in terms of the response.”
