Why did the Team Unity Government of Prime Minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris accept the conclusion of the Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) that the Zika virus is in St. Kitts and Nevis but refused CARPHA’s recommendation that the Basseterre High School (BHS) campuses be reoccupied?
St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party caretaker for St. Christopher 8, Dr. Terrance Drew also lashed out at the Ministry of Tourism which a few days prior to an official statement that three persons had tested positive for Zika, was quoted in the Gleaner newspaper in Jamaica and The Voice in the United Kingdom that St Kitts and Nevis was inviting tourists to visit the Federation because the two islands “were Zika free.”
“We must be very honest and very careful when it comes to the health of our people and the health of those who visit our shores. People want dependable information,” said Dr. Drew on Wednesday.
He told listeners during the “Issues” programme on Freedom FM on Wednesday that scores of cases were confirmed in the neighbouring islands.
“Doctors were reporting typical cases that people were infected with the Zika virus. It was only logical because of the ease of travel that there would be cases in St Kitts and Nevis just waiting to be confirmed,” said Dr. Drew, who said the world was laughing at St Kitts and Nevis about being Zika free.
“How can you be promoting the tourism industry on his question, which is almost obvious that you must have Zika in your country as well,” asked Dr. Drew, an internist.
He raised the situation where the Timothy Harris Government last year rejected the recommendation of the very same CARPHA that the Basseterre High School be reoccupied after remedial works were done.
“The CARPHA report was no accepted by the now Government which was in opposition at the time, because as the now Minister of Education, Shawn Richards stated, ‘we have to err on the side of caution,’ noted Dr. Drew.
He said the Team Unity Government bruised CARPHA’s reputation when the report from the Washington-based NIOSH came to the same conclusion as the Trinidad and Tobago-based CARPHA. The report from the Washington-based NIOSH – National Institute of Organizational Safety and Health was also rejected by the Timothy Harris coalition and the two campuses of the school remain closed with nearly 800 students housed in two of the same ‘condemned wooden buildings’ which have been relocated along other temporary facilities with no labs for physics, biology, information technology, chemistry, woodwork and metal work.
“What we are seeing here is a great deal of hypocrisy. There is a type of cynicism when it comes to the health of the people of St Kitts and Nevis. The approach is very cynical. There is no coordination and it appears no one is taking health issues seriously for while the CARPHA Report is rejected in the BHS scandal, CARPHA’s conclusion that there are confirmed cases of the Zika virus is accepted.
He warned that when political decisions are made in relation to health issues “there are consequences for health of the population.