Government is set to embark on a major vector eradication programme in and around the environs of historic Kensington Oval and across Barbados ahead of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 which will be staged in the Caribbean from June 1 to 29.
A senior official said this would be an intensification of the usual programmes to control rodents and mosquitoes in The City and hotspots in the wider areas of the country as large numbers of visitors and locals are expected for the Barbados leg
of matches.
“The inspectorate is planning an islandwide programme, especially for Bridgetown and around Kensington Oval in terms of rodent control and mosquito control,” the source said.
A similar programme will also be done ahead of next weekend’s Agrofest in Queen’s Park within a 300-yard radius, so areas such as nearby Halls Village and Ellis Village would be included in fogging and baiting as animal feed is attractive to rodents. That would also include water samples to check chlorine levels and meetings with food vendors and so on to ensure safety standards.
“A serious mosquito and rodent control programme will be done in Barbados, especially in St Michael, Bridgetown, Kensington Oval and environs,” the official said.
“This is something that we normally do because of the large crowds that would be attending the event and a lot of food would be sold. A lot of styrofoam containers will be discarded, some will have in remnants of food that would encourage rodents, so Sanitation [Services Authority] would put down more bins. We would step up the fogging schedule in the areas, we would do baiting, especially in the evening, using zinc phosphides that we would not use all the time.
“But there is a serious dengue situation going on right now. There are more than 500 to 1 000 suspected cases of dengue right now and two deaths. So the Ministry of Health has asked for the inspectors at each polyclinic to submit the problem areas. You just don’t want
to fog willy-nilly like that, they are asking for problem areas,” the person added.
And these hotspots have been identified across Barbados from the catchment areas of Eunice Gibson Polyclinic; Winston Scott Polyclinic, Randall Phillips Polyclinic; Maurice Byer Polyclinic; David Thompson Health and Social Services Complex, Frederick Miller Polyclinic and Brandford Taitt Polyclinic.
These include: Welchman Hall, St Thomas; Skeete’s Road, Jackmans; Hothersal Turning, Deacons, Eden Lodge, Westbury Road, New Orleans and The City, Black Rock, The Pine, Brittons Hill, Deighton, Dalkeith and St Matthias, St Michael; West Terrace, Haynesville, Garden Land and Mount Standfast, St James; Rockley, Hastings, Silver Hill; Sargeant’s Village and Chancery Lane, Christ Church; Belleplaine, St Andrew; Church Village and Brereton, St Philip; Ellerton, St George and Gall Hill, St John.
This will be a massive programme for the inspectorate which is still seeking to fill some slots. There is space for 178 on the statute books, but the number had fallen to around 115. Twenty-five who worked with COVID-19 programmes were taken on last year, but with retirements, deaths and those leaving the service, that number dropped again.
The mailbox of Minister of Environment Adrian Forde was full, while calls to Deputy Chief Environmental Health Officer Ronald Chapman went unanswered. An inspector indicated he was in and out of meetings Wednesday and Thursday.
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