Hanover health department to embark upon rat eradication programme

WESTERN BUREAU:

With the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), Western Parks and Markets (WPM) now promising to clear up the backlog of garbage existing in the parish of Hanover, the Hanover Health Department (HHD) has simultaneously expressed a commitment to embark upon a rodent eradication programme across that parish.

Public Cleansing Inspector at the NSWMA/WPM Rosemarie Erskine, announced at a recent Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC) meeting that her organization now has working in the parish of Hanover, two of the 50 new garbage compactors that arrived in the island recently, and that they are looking to clear the backlog of garbage across the parish in the short term.

“Two trucks have been assigned to Hanover, one for eastern and the other for western, and so despite the numerous challenges that were present, we are so looking forward to 2023, as we are now better prepared to get the job (of clearing the garbage across the parish) done,” she stated.

She acknowledged that the two trucks will not be a perfect fix, but they have put her organisation in a better position to tackle the problem with the limited improvement in equipment available to serve the parish.

Numerous complaints were tabled in previous HMC meetings about the increase in the rat population across the parish, with the pile-up of garbage in the various communities being identified as breeding grounds for the rodents. At the end of November there were some 83 communities with garbage backlog to be cleared in the parish.

The garbage backlog has spurred the HHD to announce its plans to implement a rodent eradication programme across the parish, wherein it plans to put rodent bait at the identified breeding sites.

INCREASE IN BUDGET

Medical officer of health for Hanover, Dr. Kaushal Singh, informed that the estimated cost for the planned programme is over $2 million, asked the HMC if an increase can be made to its promised allocation of $500,000.

“Thanks to the HMC as we (at the HHD) have received the approval letter for $500,000 for the rodent control programme, but when you look at the proposal, the chief executive officer of the HMC will tell you, that by itself the bait will cost more than $2 million to cover the urban centres, so the $500,000 is basically just a drop in the bucket,” he stated.

“If we want to get an effective programme an area in which we could reduce cost is through manpower, and if the councillors could provide the manpower we (at the HHD) would train them,” the MOH suggested.

He noted that while other agencies have promised to contribute to the project, an increased contribution from the HMC would assist greatly.

Mayor of Lucea and chairman of the HMC, Sheridan Samuels, argued that while his agency would be willing to render more assistance to the project, the HMC is strapped for cash at the moment, and so would not be in a position to do so at present.

“Just do what you have to do now and probably in early next year we might be in a better position to assist further,” Samuels advised.

It is expected that the rat abatement programme should commence in the coming weeks.