Prime Minister Bruce Golding has given instructions for a team of medical and support personnel to be mobilized for deployment to Haiti to assist in combating the cholera epidemic that is now ravaging that country.
In addition to medical practitioners, the contingent will include Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) personnel who will provide logistical support and security. They will take with them medical supplies for the treatment of patients as well as water treatment applications.
Golding said that he was heartened by the number of persons who, without call-out, have volunteered to be part of the contingent.
Golding, as Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), has been in touch with other regional governments as well as the Special Representative to Haiti, former prime minister P.J. Patterson, in coordinating the Community’s response to this latest crisis.
At the same time, the Prime Minister has instructed the JDF and the Maritime Police to intensify their surveillance to intercept boat traffic between Haiti and Jamaica to ensure that the necessary test and quarantine procedures are fully enforced in relation to persons arriving on Jamaican shores from Haiti.
Surveillance and response procedures are already in place at the island’s airports in relation to persons who have recently been in Haiti or who display cholera-related symptoms.
The Jamaican government will be working closely with other CARICOM governments and international agencies to contain and defeat the cholera epidemic which Mr Golding said is not only a cause for alarm in Haiti but a threat to the entire region and, in particular, Jamaica because of its close proximity.
Official reports indicate that more than 1,000 people have died and more than 15,000 confirmed to have been infected. These numbers are expected to rise significantly as the epidemic has now spread to all the provinces of Haiti. (CMC)
