Latest update March 19th, 2024 12:05 AM
Sep 18, 2014 Editorial
This is not the first time that an epidemic has been sweeping this country and it surely will not be the last. On one occasion a series of flu hit Guyana like the plague. Hospitals and health centres were crowded; sick children had to lie on the floor in some places.
On another occasion, measles swept the land. Just about every home had a victim. Those in the city relied on the medical facilities while those in rural Guyana turned to home-based remedies. Chicken pox and dengue were the last of the diseases to decimate Guyana.
The nation often got ample warning when these diseases made their presence felt in the region. Health officials published the findings in certain countries and issued warnings to those expecting the disease. There was collaboration, experimental drugs shared and generally, there were the precautions.
This time it is Chikungunya. The first case in Guyana was reported in the eastern part of the country, Berbice, and one may conclude that the disease was imported from neighbouring Suriname. Indeed, Berbice is a haven for mosquitoes so it is likely that any mosquito borne disease would thrive in that county.
The situation really became scary when the Minister of Health refused to acknowledge the presence of the disease in Guyana. All across the region the various health authorities were advising their people to take the necessary precautions against the disease. The Caribbean is an ample breeding ground for the carrier mosquito, Aedes Agypti.
Guyana said nothing because as it transpired, the man entrusted with the health of the nation said that he did not want to scare the visitors and the tourists. Asininity knows no bounds. Perhaps the people of West Africa should have remained silent while Ebola raged, because they would not want to limit whatever investment would be coming to the countries.
In the first instance Guyana’s tourist arrivals are among the lowest in the world according to the tourism reports. Secondly, any visitor having been informed that the disease is raging in the Caribbean would expect it to be present in Guyana. There is a lot of movement between Guyana and the rest of the Caribbean.
Reporters called the Minister of Health to confirm cases and he lied; he spoke of no test results to verify claims, all the while people were coming down with the debilitating disease. As could be expected, he cannot deny the presence of the disease in light of the overwhelming numbers seeking help at the various hospitals and health centres.
The Campbellville health centre was reporting seeing close to sixty patients a day. This week the Beterverwagting Health Centre was seeing sixteen cases a day. One can only imagine what is happening at the other health centres given that the disease is touted to rage even more.
After the foolish decision to remain quiet—and even now the Health Minister has said nothing—the authorities ordered a bout of fogging in the city. This should have been done a long time and while it may not have eradicated Chikungunya it would have minimized the impact. The Minister of Health chose to place the health of the nation at risk, and he remains on the job.
Some have been saying that Chikungunya is not fatal but reports from the Pan American Health Organisation have placed Chikungunya deaths at more than 100. The fact that people are dying attests to the severity of this disease that has already decimated Guyana.
Lurking in the background are dengue and another strain of the flu. These are riding along with Chikungunya and heaven help anyone who gets two or more of the diseases at the same time.
And while we worry about this exotic disease we seem to be ignoring another killer that could hit our shores—Ebola. Other Caribbean countries are talking about measures to combat the disease that kills between sixty and ninety percent of its victims.
There have been reports of two women dying after a fit of vomiting blood this past week. One of them died on Monday but the nation has heard nothing.
Listen to the man that is throwing Guyanese bright future away
Mar 18, 2024
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