The Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony has contended that the local health authorities have been able to adequately respond to the nationwide flooding, hindering the outbreak of diseases.
During his daily COVID-19 update on Thursday, he said there were a few cases of acute diarrheal diseases recorded but noted that those cases were not “overwhelming”.
At a recent press conference, Director-General of the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig said that there were isolated cases of skin rashes also.
On Wednesday night, via a press release, the CDC noted that monitoring across all Regions for water borne diseases continues and some minor cases involving rashes and diarrhea have been reported in some areas.
“These cases are being sufficiently dealt with by the Ministry of Health, while medical kits are also being deployed by the CDC,” the release noted.
On Thursday, the Health Minister said, “During this period while more than half of the population were at risk with these floodwaters, we didn’t have any risk of drowning, we didn’t have any outbreaks of any sorts.”
In addition to the challenges presented by flooding, Dr. Anthony reminded members of the media that the ministry has been rolling out its COVID-19 vaccination campaign simultaneously. Still, he contended that the health system “performed relatively well”, owing to the work of dedicated health professionals.
Meanwhile, Dr Anthony also noted that the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) has made some recommendations about how the local health sector can strengthen its response to future flood disasters.
Members of CDEMA have been conducting a detailed damage assessment on the nationwide flooding. The findings from this assessment are expected to bolster recovery and rebuilding efforts and also strengthen Guyana’s ability to mitigate future disasters.
“… in the report, at least some of the preliminary findings have suggested some additional actions in the future that, perhaps, the health ministry can take and will review those recommendations when we get them to see how we can implement them,” the Health Minister said on Thursday.
