KINGSTON, Jamaica — Opposition Spokesman on Health Dr Kenneth Baugh says that the relevant authorities including the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) and the Ministry of Health are not taking the growing outbreak of Chikungunya seriously.

According to Dr Baugh, the number of cases being quoted by the Health Ministry are not credible.

“Many more people are being afflicted by this illness and are not being recorded and these low numbers could lull people into false sense of security,” Dr Baugh argued.

He is suggesting that both Ministers of Local Government and Health ramp up the vector control efforts as well as pushing a public education campaign to encourage people who suspect that they have the disease to report it.

“This is a very serious situation and even with health practitioners warning of the impending increase in the rates of infection, there is still a garbage problem in many areas of the country and many areas where mosquitoes can find fertile breeding grounds,” said Dr Baugh.

“We also need the citizens of Jamaica to take the cleanliness of their surrounding seriously and check to see that there are no mosquito breeding places in and around your home and community,” Dr Baugh added.

He said that the only way to fight the disease is together, “so while communities need to play their part, the Ministries and their agencies must also play theirs”.

Reblogged via Chikungunya cases being under reported, says Baugh – Latest News – JamaicaObserver.com.