The Health Ministry has again found itself pleading to the public to take health concerns seriously, this time calling for more attention to the circumstances that may lead to the rise in dengue cases.
In doing so, it has presented figures showing a rise in infections, with over 100 new cases between Friday and Tuesday and eight deaths for the year so far. From managing the COVID-19 pandemic, the ministry knows just how difficult it can be to get the buy-in from citizens on health issues, even when they become matters of life and death.
Back then, the flood of disinformation associated with the vaccines made the ministry's efforts a nightmare. Conspiracy theories, thankfully, have hardly found themselves connected to dengue fever warnings.
Complacency, however, is where the problem lies, as identified by Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh at a news conference yesterday. For the most part, he urged citizens to come forward quickly to be tested for dengue fever. From his perspective, the slow pace already reflects what transpired during the COVID-19 period, so he advised that the ministry would make the Couva facility, which was used for COVID-19 treatments, available for dengue testing as well. While Minister Deyalsingh's urgency is valid, his ministry must also focus on the reasons why citizens are sometimes reluctant to seek help at public facilities, largely due to the long delays in being attended to. Inefficiencies in the health sector can prove just as deadly.
After the death of Rakesh Nanlal from dengue last week, concerns were raised about the effectiveness of the health sector in speedily addressing the dengue problem.
Pharmacy Board president Andrew Rahaman noted that in Nanlal's case, blood tests at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex were delayed. He argued that had Nanlal received the results earlier, he might have stood a better chance of survival. It stands to reason that getting more people to act swifter can be better achieved by raising the population's confidence in public health facilities with regard to quicker attention and speedier turnover of results.
These challenges aside, the message must still resound loudly: that we all stand a better chance of beating dengue fever by seeking early treatment than by doing so too late, a message that Rahaman also echoed after raising his concerns over the death of Nanlal. Minister Deyalsingh is right.
We ought not to take chances with our health or expect that the Government alone must bear the full responsibility for the dengue fight. As pointed out yesterday, each citizen has a role to play in tending to the breeding grounds for the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that spread the deadly virus. The call to step up efforts to rid their premises of containers, buckets, bowls and saucers that collect water is just about the least that can be expected from responsible citizens.
The ministry has already issued 441 notices to homeowners to clean up their premises, which is needed even more now as the rainy season is expected to be busier than usual. There is no message more important than one that can save one's life. Regardless of whatever challenges the ministry faces in getting the message of dengue prevention and early treatment heard and accepted, it must remain vigilant in its efforts to do so.