WRHA Gets 10 More Vehicles For Vector Control

The Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA) has received 10 more vehicles to bolster the ongoing dengue eradication programme across the region.

The new pickup trucks, which are equipped with fogging machines, are to serve the four parishes within the health region – St. James, Hanover, Trelawny and Westmoreland.

WRHA Regional Director, Errol Greene, handed over the vehicles to parish managers during a ceremony held at the Cornwall Regional Hospital’s Freeport offices in Montego Bay on Tuesday (January 28).

He charged them to make full use of the vehicles to rid communities of mosquitoes in order to contain the spread of the dengue virus in Western Jamaica.

“We think [they] will go a far way in alleviating the mosquito nuisance in the region, and I am sure the residents of the region, from Trelawny right back to Westmoreland, will be very happy when they see these vehicles rolling in,” he said.

He commended the vector-control workers for their efforts in this regard, and urged the parish managers to ensure that the vehicles are used for their intended purpose.

Parish Manager for St. James Public Health Services, Lennox Wallace, for his part, said that the additional vehicles will enable a more timely response by vectors-control workers.

“We will be able to attend to the complaints in the parishes, morning and evening. We will be out there to maintain the programme, so at least when the final assessment is made, Western Jamaica would come out on top as managing this [dengue virus],” he added.

The vehicles are part of 60 units recently procured by the Ministry of Health and Wellness at a cost of approximately $400 million.

In December, the WRHA acquired 12 vehicles at a cost of $80.1 million.