'Ridiculous and political gamesmanship' - Tufton rejects claim that there was a delay in announcing dengue outbreak

A claim by Colin Fagan, member of parliament for South East St Catherine, that the Ministry of Health's slow reaction to a dengue fever outbreak has led to the death of a second child in Portmore, St Catherine, has been refuted by Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton.

Tufton yesterday described the charge by Fagan, made in an open letter to the minister, which was forwarded to The Gleaner, as "ridiculous and political gamesmanship".

The letter outlined that Fagan was gravely concerned that a four-year-old and a nine-year-old boy have died as a result of contracting dengue. On Thursday, the health minister outlined that for December 2018, there were 123 reported dengue cases - which includes suspected, presumed, and confirmed cases. The number exceeds the outbreak threshold of 96 cases. He said that seven suspected dengue-related deaths have been reported since the start of the dengue season, with two of those cases confirmed.

CONSTANT DENIALS

"As member of parliament, I have done what I can to inform my constituents of the dangers of the disease, but my efforts were thwarted by the constant stream of denials coming out of your ministry. The result is the death of another child," Fagan's letter read.

"In view of what seems to be a serious outbreak, and given the deaths of two children in Waterford, in close proximity to each other, we are asking that immediate and concentrated attention be placed in the community. I'm again calling for the resumption of fogging that has been absent for some time," it continued.

In response, Tufton said that it was only last week, when the ministry received data on the number of reported cases for December, that the announcement was made about an outbreak. The minister was adamant that his team has, for months, been on the ground sensitising and performing vector-control activities.

"The only time you could have called it an outbreak was at the end of December. To make a claim that the ministry thwarted efforts was just plain ridiculous and political gamesmanship. How could the ministry indicate an outbreak before an outbreak was qualified so to be?"

The minister continued, "On the issue of Portmore and other parts of St Catherine, efforts have been ongoing. We have 55 vector aids and 34 permanent vector staff who have been in the field from as far back as June. They have been visiting homes, distributing pamphlets, and fogging all over St Catherine."

INCREASED ACTIVITY

Tufton indicated that throughout the rest of this month, the country should expect more activity than usual.

"The trend suggests we will start tapering off by February into March. We expect that January will be an active month. To say we had an outbreak before December, though, would have been inaccurate. The outbreak threshold for each month is a formula that is internationally determined. In September, the threshold would have been closer to 400. If you never had in excess of 400, there would have been no outbreak. In December, the threshold was 96, and we had 123, which is why we declared the outbreak. Calling it an outbreak if it is not has implications internationally. All the talk about not declaring an outbreak earlier is really a lack of understanding of how an outbreak is determined."

jason.cross@gleanerjm.com