Tonight’s the Health Minister Fenton Ferguson, author of the “Chik V” débacle, addressed the nation on the topic of this wretched virus that is driving us all crazy, chikungunya.
And on that wearying topic, the Acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr. Kevin Harvey told us pretty bluntly last week that they are not now counting the cases any more. They got stuck at the ridiculous figure of 31 and got no further when numbers zoomed up (and most people weren’t getting tested anyway). Dr. Harvey did say, however, that between thirty and sixty per cent of the population will have had it or will get it. Make that sixty per cent (at least). I hardly know anyone who hasn’t had it. Miraculously, I have not (yet). Fellow blogger Cucumber Juice suggests a workable strategy here: http://cucumberjuice.wordpress.com/2014/09/28/chikungunya-notebook-mitigate-and-educate/ Others want the Health Minister to simply resign. Here is the text of Minister Ferguson’s address: http://jis.gov.jm/media/HMH-Address-to-the-Nation-re_chikungunya.pdf I am puzzled that he omitted to mention that seniors are among the high-risk groups, and also people with sickle cell disease.
Twitter remedies: Meanwhile Twitter is awash with home remedies. Paw paw (papaya leaf) seems to be a favorite. If I tried them all I think I would feel much worse.
One spinoff of this, especially after last weekend’s International Coastal Cleanup Day, is the discussion on how disgustingly filthy our country is, and how the whole island needs cleaning up from top to bottom. After Janella Precius’ excellent television report on the filth lying in the once pretty little town of Lucea between the tourist resorts of Montego Bay and Negril, she returned two or three weeks later to find little or nothing had been done to fix it. The Tourism Minister visited and was pretty disturbed, promising on camera something must and will be done. Ms. Precius says she will keep an eye on things. The town (like so many others) is a public health hazard – and we don’t want our tourists getting Chik V now, do we?! (Is that why Minister Ferguson was so coy about it in the first place, one wonders?)
So Minister Ferguson announced a National Cleanup Day – but did not give us a date. How about tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow? No urgency? Will the general populace be fit enough for such strenuous exercise, anyway? Now one Member of Parliament is telling us it’s “everyone’s responsibility.” Well, our garbage has not been collected for over two weeks now. It is stinking and attracting flies and I am trying to prevent mosquito breeding spots from appearing. It is disgusting. Is it my responsibility to collect the garbage and take it to the dump, now?
The good news is that three police officers have been charged in connection with the death of Mario Deane, who was beaten in the Barnett Street police lock-up in Montego Bay and died on Independence Day, August 6. Two of them are women – including the one who allegedly refused to grant station bail when Deane’s friend came to collect him, and allegedly ordered him to go back in the cells. They are charged with manslaughter, misconduct and attempting to pervert the course of justice and will return to court on October 3. I need to report on a couple of other cases (well, several really) involving the police, but that will be for another post.
I haven’t written much about the excellent lobby group National Integrity Action (NIA) headed by Professor Trevor Munroe. The Professor made an interesting speech to lay magistrates yesterday, which I am trying to find a copy of. He asked a lot of pertinent questions and noted that between April and July of this year, J$7.7 billion was cut from central government in order to meet the International Monetary Fund’s review targets. I hope to report further on the NIA head’s remarks.
Far from reality? The think tank Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI) headed by Dr. Christopher Tufton says the much-touted logistics hub has a ways to go. CaPRI concludes that Jamaica lags behind a number of its regional competitors in several areas – including energy costs, security issues, the general business environment and inadequate human resources. Location isn’t everything, the think tank suggests in its report – which I also cannot find online, frustratingly.
I’m wondering about Minister Anthony Hylton, who oversees the proposed hub; he seems very quiet these days and seems to spend a lot of time traveling. Has he really got a grip on things? Minister Hylton almost let the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Bill 2014 (on the IMF’s must-do list) which he was supposed to be piloting slip right through his fingers; it appears the Justice Minister had to rescue it. I hear Minister Hylton is overseas at the moment anyway. The act has to be passed by September 30, and the House of Representatives is going to squeeze it through that same day, now. One hopes.
Commendations to:
- Barbara Gayle (Sunday Gleaner) and Balford Henry (Sunday Observer) who keep us up to date on the incompetencies and slackness of our justice system and our Parliamentary system, respectively. If you want a dose of reality every Sunday, do read them. Why, for example, did the Upper House only sit for fifteen minutes on Friday? It only meets one day a week to start with! As Mr. Henry notes, parliamentary proceedings have been dominated by legislation that must be passed at the IMF’s behest, rushed through to meet deadlines. The Oppositlon has gone along with this.
- The great people at the Caribbean Coastal Area Management Foundation (C-CAM), who did a great job on International Coastal Cleanup Day!
- Marcia Forbes did a quick survey of some of us and came up with her findings on whether we bloggers actually want to make money out of our blogs. Here is her article on Caribbean Journal (which by the way is always a pleasant read): http://www.caribjournal.com/2014/09/24/the-business-of-caribbean-blogging/
I am so pleased to say that in the past four days only one Jamaican has been murdered, according to media reports. Minister of National Security Peter Bunting says murders have declined by 18 per cent compared to the first nine months of last year. Good going and kudos to all.
Tevon Henderson, 20, Bull Bay, St. Thomas
Petchary's Blog 
Can’t see a little national address ousting time-tested remedies from the national medicine cabinet. Fine to tell people not to self-medicate when medical care is so expensive and not just wish away. If that is a serious message, it can’t come just in the face of chik-v. (Let me go drink some coconut water and take a Panadol, right now…)
Dr Ferguson called for national cleanup then said that the dreaded aedes aegypti mosquitoes do NOT like breeding in gullies: “It is a container breeding mosquito…”, so that would make some think, well “Why bother?”.
Sounds like the MoH hasn’t a clue what it’s really doing, other than reacting to some public concerns and a rapid loss of credibility.
Didn’t hear anything about addressing growing gap in availability of medication, etc.
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