Clean-Up Day in Mandeville April 9

The Ministry of Health is advising the public that the next clean-up day for ‘Operation Mosquito Search and Destroy’, will be April 9, in Mandeville, Manchester. It was originally scheduled for Saturday, April 2.

Mandeville is the next stop in the series of clean-up days across the island, being undertaken to rid major cities and towns of breeding sites for the Aedes Egypti mosquito, the vector for Zika, Dengue and Chikungunya viruses.

In an interview with JIS News, Acting Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Winston De la Haye, indicated that the Ministry and its partners are relentless in the fight to bring about a significant decrease in the mosquito population of the country.

He pointed out that the postponement is to facilitate the staff of the Ministry of Health, led by Minister, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, paying their final respects to a former colleague, Dr. Denise Goffe, who will be laid to rest on April 2.

“Out of respect for our colleague, staff of the Ministry of Health will be attending the funeral service for Dr. Goffe, and the Minister has indicated that he too intends to attend the service, and so a decision was taken to postpone the clean-up activity to the following week,” Dr. De la Haye said.

Dr. Goffe, who died on March 19, was up the time of her death the Senior Officer with responsibility for Clinical Quality Assurance at the South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA).                   She was the sixth person and the second medical practitioner to die of complications related to the H1N1 Virus.

Dr. Goffe served the Ministry of Health for over 30 years and retired from the position of Director of Health Services Planning and Integration in 2014.