Reports surface of garbage pile-ups at some St Catherine schools Loop Jamaica

Black Immigrant Daily News

Some schools in St Catherine are being impacted by uncollected garbage, with allegations that students could possibly have become ill with vomiting and diarrhoea, due to the unsanitary conditions around them.

Chairman of the St Catherine Municipal Corporation’s (SCMC) Public Health and Sanitation Committee, Sydney Rose, has disclosed that some schools in the parish, such as Ewarton High School, Charlemont High and Eltham Primary, have been experiencing significant garbage pile-ups over extended periods.

The situation, he said, could have possibly resulted in some students being sick with vomiting and diarrhoea.

However, Deputy Chief Public Health Inspector for St Catherine, Denece Douglas, told a recent meeting of the municipality’s health and sanitation committee that she could not confirm any connection between the lack of garbage collection at schools and the purported illness of students.

“As it relates to garbage pile-up, public health inspectors have received complaints about garbage pile-up in schools. So, from time to time we try to contact NSWMA (National Solid Waste Management Authority) to have the matter sorted out in schools,” she told councillors.

“Regarding any reports of… an increase in diarrhoea among school children, personally, I have not gotten any report, but I could check with the surveillance team at the health department and report to you next month (November),” Douglas stated.

Still, Rose, who is also the People’s National Party (PNP) Councillor for the Treadways Division in St Catherine, said the parish needs more health inspectors to monitor the sanitary situation in schools.

He also expounded on the reports which he said have reached him of students falling ill.

“I have also received reports that a lot of the students are going down with certain illnesses where they would have been vomiting, and they would have had loose stools.

“… And when they would have gone to the doctor to get treated, it is said that (it is) because of the unsanitary spaces in which they are,” he claimed.

“So, even teachers are complaining about the fact that there are large numbers of students who are coming down with this bug,” the councillor indicated.

Earlier this month, Local Government and Rural Development Minister, Desmond McKenzie, pleaded with persons affected by the lack of adequate garbage collection locally, to exercise patience.

This is while the Government awaits 50 new garbage trucks that were purchased to help alleviate the garbage problems.

Shortly after, Prime Minister Andrew Holness posted videos of several NSWMA-labelled garbage trucks, stating that they would soon arrive in the island.

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