The Ministry of Health, as a ‘pre-emptive’ measure, has deployed medicines and other supplies to flood-affected regions to guard against possible outbreaks of waterborne diseases, says Minister, Dr Frank Anthony.
“So, you would have seen over the last couple of days that persons from [the] Heath [Ministry] would have gone into some of these communities and distributed things like bleach and given people instructions on how to use it to purify their water,” he noted.
The Minister also reported that the ministry is on the lookout for skin rashes that usually surface during floods.
“From past floods, when the water recedes, a lot of people would complain of rashes or even before the water recedes…We’re on the lookout for that. As a pre-emptive measure, we have already started to distribute some of the creams – antifungal creams and so forth – just to give people and explain to them how to use it in case these things develop,” he noted.
The Minister added that the Ministry is also monitoring children for diarrheal disease.
“So far, we haven’t seen any outbreak, and again, we have given to several health centers adequate amounts of oral rehydration salts, so if children get diarrheal disease, they can easily get dehydrated…We have also been on the lookout for other waterborne illnesses. So far, we haven’t seen any particular outbreak. [However], as I keep repeating, does not mean that they wouldn’t be anything, but we have to keep looking out. Our teams are out there, and as soon as we notice cases or trends, we should be able to respond very quickly,” he added.
So far, all the regions have reported instances of flooding, due to heavy rainfall and high tides. The Civil Defence Commission (CDC) has deployed close to 30,000 hampers, and erected shelters in the affected regions.
