Friday, December 19 2008

“DENGUE City”, is how Freddy Ramcharan describes Frederick Settlement in Caroni where his 22-year-old daughter died on December 9, after contracting the dengue haemorrhagic fever. “It’s like they don’t know where Frederick Settlement is anymore,” Ramcharan said in an interview yesterday, as he criticised the authorities for neglecting the area.

Ramcharan along with scores of residents on Wednesday began protesting as they demanded that the area be sprayed to control the breeding of the aedes aegypti mosquito which is the carrier of the disease, of which there are four strains.

He referred to clogged drains, a garbage pile up and overgrown bush in the area. Ramcharan said his family and other residents contacted the Insect Vector Control Division (IVCD) last month, but “no one seems interested”. Ramcharan’s brother Robbie said his (Ramcharan) house was listed for spraying since November 28, but to date the IVCD has not visited. The Health Ministry has refuted reports of an outbreak of dengue fever in TT. Ramcharan disagreed and said an outbreak was when “the whole nation suffering from something. It’s like a plague, it taking lives. My daughter was a victim.”

Residents plan to hold another demonstration tomorrow. Newsday contacted the IVCD but officials said they were not authorised to speak to the media.

The Health Ministry was contacted for an update on dengue but an official advised that the Chief Medical Officer will host a press briefing next month. The last official figure provided by the Ministry was 120 dengue reports up to week 28 (July).