CARPHA deploying 15 docs to Melissa-battered west

The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) is deploying a team of 15 doctors to western Jamaica as the country continues its recovery from the devastating impact of Hurricane Melissa.

The team is scheduled to arrive on Saturday and will operate from the Barbados-donated field hospital, which will be set up in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland.

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton announced this week that the hospital would provide essential medical support following the hurricane’s landfall in the parish on October 28, which left significant destruction in its wake.

CARPHA Executive Director Dr Lisa Indar, who visited Jamaica shortly after the hurricane, said the deployment is part of the agency’s broader assistance in supporting the country’s recovery.

“While we cannot fix a building or do light poles, and all of that, we will stick to our public-health roles. You know, when there is a hurricane and with all the flooding and with all the loss of homes and people living in shelters, there’s the risk of infectious diseases, food-safety problems, mosquito-borne problems, mental stress, [and] maybe COVID or other respiratory diseases. You need to be able to respond at a community level quickly. From the field hospitals, you need to have mobile hospitals, and you need to move very quickly,” she told The Gleaner.

DEVOTED TO CAUSE

Indar emphasised CARPHA’s ongoing commitment to Jamaica’s recovery efforts.

“We are doing a very big shipment, probably about US$1 million, with really needed point-of-care lab kits because you need to be able to test. You can’t send something to Kingston because you don’t know how long it will take, so point-of-care lab kits [and] a whole set of supplies of PPEs (personal protective equipment) [are coming],” said Indar.

“People are forgetting the need for personal hygiene kits and things like small mobile bed cots, gowns, lab coats, sutures things, like that, so we are sending that type of supplies. We are hoping to get that into Jamaica by the end of November.”

CARPHA is the regional public-health body and is mandated by CARICOM’s governments to lead public health response as well as response to emergencies.

– Karen Madden