Health minister heeds WHO warning

 GEORGETOWN (CMC):

Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy says Guyana will step up its public education and surveillance following a World Health Organisation (WHO) warning that the Caribbean could be overrun by Haiti's cholera epidemic.

"We have already begun working, putting things in place and one of it is the education aspect - making people aware of what to look for," he said, noting that among those to be targeted include public-heath staff, doctors, community health workers, nurses and laboratory technicians.

Cholera was last reported in 1994 but it was quickly contained.

Dr Ramsammy said that the longer cholera persists in Haiti, "there's a good possibility that it will leave Haiti and start moving".

Waterborne disease

Haiti yesterday said that more than 1,340 people had died from the waterborne disease and 57,000 people had been treated.

Guyana said it will be providing a supply of oral rehydration salts (ORS) as well as sending medical officials to the stricken Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.

Over the weekend, Jamaica's Prime Minister Bruce Golding said he had given instructions for a team of medical and support personnel to be mobilised for deployment to Haiti.

In addition to medical practitioners, the contingent will include Jamaica Defence Force personnel who will provide logistical support and security. They will take with them medical supplies for the treatment of patients as well as water- treatment applications.

Prime Minister Golding, as CARICOM chairman, has been in touch with other regional governments as well as the special representative to Haiti, former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, in coordinating the community's response to this latest crisis.