Letter of the Day | Learn lessons from Crab Circle fiasco

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I would like to opine on what I can only describe as a fiasco regarding the recent embarrassing situation where it was reported that food was being sold at this popular food joint without potable running water or proper sanitary conveniences.

Although it appears that this is common occurrence at these roadside eateries, what is embarrassing and appalling about this one in particular is that it was sponsored, if you may, by Jamaica’s international and renowned brand, J. Wray and Nephew! It’s beyond me to think that this respected and revered entity would have its name associated with anything where the health and welfare of the public is not assured. Another thing that is almost laughable is that the Department of Health would sign off, or allow this facility to operate without sounding the alarm that food was being prepared and sold under unsanitary conditions.

As the saga continues, we learned that at the opening of the “new and improved” facility, an imposter stole the show, posing as a public health inspector. The first thing that came to my mind was where was the chief public health inspector? Was he not invited to this grand reopening event? His office is located just up the road; right there on Marescaux Road, a brisk 15-20 minutes walk away. He should be the one making that wonderful speech that the “imposter” delivered. I agree with the gentleman that instead of deriding him, he should be treated as a hero because he shone a bright light on the deficiencies in the protocols and how easy it is to game the system.

As a former public health inspector, I graduated from the West Indies School of Public Health in 1975. Incidentally, the first year women were trained and graduated from that institution. I am aware of the provisions of Chapter 320 of the Public Health Act that addresses all the breaches that were evident in the crab circle fiasco, and I urge the minister of health, the minister of local government and the chief public health inspector to take another look at it in order to prevent similar occurrences in the future.

CHESTER MCGIBBON

Westbury NY