By Tyrone Reid, Staff ReporterUNSANITARY CONDITIONS outside and within the compound of Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) that are making it convenient for resilient roaches to invade the hospital's wards repeatedly will take some time to correct, a senior officer at the hospital has warned.
David Dobson, operations manager at the KPH, told The Gleaner he could not promise that the hospital would be totally cleared of the roaches any time soon.
"We have treated (the place) but the re-infestation will continue. We can't definitely say we can, totally, but we are confident that the programme we are now using should significantly reduce the population and keep infestation within a reasonable limit," explained Mr. Dobson. However, Everton Baker, chief public health inspector at the Public Health Department, said the problem was with general sanitation.
MANAGING FOOD
"Once there is a disciplined way of managing the food that comes on the ward and there is not indiscriminate disposal of food particles then the problem should be kept at a minimal level and then chemical control can be administered," he said.
Last week, Mr. Dobson suggested that the vending of food and raw sewage within close proximity to the hospital were partly to be blamed for the recent influx of 'teenager' roaches.
But the public health officer says there is no evidence to link the activities of the vendors with the infestation. "The vendors could not be contributing as it is being alleged, and as it relates to the sewage, the roaches need water and food to survive, not sewage. Flies will breed from sewage, but not roaches," Mr. Baker said.
Still, while not pointing fingers on any particular group, Mr. Dobson said unhygienic outside factors were contributing to the roaches constant return to the wards. "I am not in a position to say that the vendors' activities are contributing to roaches on the compound, but we are of the view that the entire surrounding of the hospital does have conditions that can contribute," explained Mr. Dobson.
Mr. Baker contends that the hospital can be totally cleansed. "You can, because you go (to) some hospitals and you don't see any, but it will take a long time and a lot of groundwork," he said.
