Penalise mosquito breeedersBy LARA PICKFORD-GORDON Wednesday, December 24 2008
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Dr Neil Singh...
DOCTOR Neil Singh, based in East Trinidad yesterday said the authorities should make use of the Public Health legislation dealing with Yellow Fever, to penalise people whose premises are found to be breeding grounds for the Aedes aegypti mosquito – the vector for dengue fever.
Referring to the 1970 legislation which includes regulations to curb the spread of yellow fever in TT which is also transmitted by the Aedes aegypti, Dr Singh said: “According to the law, persons found harbouring the Aedes aegypti mosquito can be charged. The Public Health law should be enforced to enable the population to curtail the spread of Aedes aegypti.”
Singh, who has a Masters Degree in primary health care, said the public is directly responsible for the spread of dengue.
“It is not the Government that is responsible for the spread and people need to understand this. The doctors cannot control dengue and spraying with perifocal is not the answer.”
Singh said spraying was only a part of eradication because this only killed the mosquitoes for a few days.
“But if there are containers and mosquitoes, you can’t expect Government to come and spray every day. It is the responsibility of citizens to take action to prevent mosquitoes breeding. People are complaining about dirty drains and empty lots of land and tyres.”
Singh said a little Clorax with water or soap water could be thrown into drains to kill mosquitoes instead of waiting for the authorities to clean the drains.
He insisted that public health education programmes were necessary because members of the public continued to pay little attention to their own actions.
Dengue fever is associated with the rainy season – from July to December in the Caribbean and Latin America however Singh said it has been “continuous”. Despite this, he said information from his own practice and medical colleagues suggest that the number of cases have been decreasing compared to two months ago. “Dengue is here to stay,” Singh said.
A source told Newsday that Public Health Inspectors have the authority to serve notice on persons found to have conditions in which the Aedes aegypti breeds.
If the individual fails to take action then the matter can go to the magistrates’ court.
Newsday has been reliably informed that all County Medical Officers of Health have been given instructions to take action and serve compliance notices where necessary.
