As the floods continue in several communities across the country and worsen in others, the Ministry of health is now monitoring for waterborne diseases, Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony said Tuesday.
Regional Health Officers and their teams have been dispatched to their respective regions to assess and monitor the situation, the Health Minister said.
“In Region 1 they have been constantly monitoring. From the reports I have got this morning there haven’t been reports of anything. Same goes for Regions 7,8 and, there are a few isolated cases of skin rashes that people have been reporting but those have been dealt with,” the Minister said.
In some communities, where the floodwaters have not been receding satisfactorily, health teams will be dispatched to conduct a second round of evaluation of the situation.
“In Region 7 we have teams that have gone into the upper and lower Mazarui and they are monitoring for both waterborne diseases cause by flooding and they are also going to do vaccination in those communities that they visit,” the Health Minister said.
The Health Minister explained that in Region 8, the medical team is assisting the Civil Defence Commission to relocate some of the affected residents.
He also said that ‘in Region 5, we continue to monitor the Mahaica and Mahaicony creeks, yesterday we had teams that were in both communities and teams are going to be going back out there today just to continue the monitoring and to first of all check to see if there are any waterborne illness and then to deal with that”.
The Ministry is also on the lookout for diarrheal diseases in the flood-affected communities and citizens in flooded communities are also being encouraged to stay out of the floodwaters and wear protective gear if they must venture out.
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