MP for the Southern Grenadines, Terrance Ollivierre has called for urgent action to deal with a mosquito problem in the Southern Grenadines after the devastation caused by Hurricane Beryl on July 1.
The Grenadines has traditionally had a larger population of mosquitos than on St. Vincent because of water harvesting in the smaller islands, which have no rivers or streams.
However, large pools of stagnant water in the Southern Grenadines following the passage of the cyclone have given birth to swarms of the blood-sucking, disease-carrying vermin.
“… when you look at where the water has settled in Union Island, Canouan and Mayreau, it worries me because it has this dark hue,” Ollivierre said Thursday night during the debate on the EC$136 million supplementary budget that lawmakers went on to approve in response to the damage caused by the storm
“And I can tell you … the last time I was in Union Island a couple of days ago, this whole arm, bumps from here to there; mosquito bites like joke,” said Ollivierre, who lives in Union Island, which suffered the brunt of the storm.
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves interjected during the unusually cordial debate that the fiscal package contains over EC$400,000 for vector control. It also includes money for equipment, taking the total allocation to EC$1 million.
“… PAHO (Pan American Health Organization) had suggested a budget of just half a million, but we actually have between the capital and the recurrent, if you look at them, a million dollars,” Gonsalves said.
The prime minister said that in addition to fogging, he has been discussing to see whether it was possible to do aerial spraying from an aircraft.
Ollivierre said:
“So, we don’t want a mosquito infestation and then you have dengue fever and all this kind of thing adding to the problem. But I would tell you that the mosquitoes are already at a level that is unbearable.”
He said someone had texted him from Canouan that very day to see if they could get insect repellent.
“… and they’re asking for all these things because it’s already in a terrible situation,” Ollivierre said.
Gonsalves further interjected, saying that public health officials were travelling to the affected islands to address the vector issues.
He said that Chief Environmental Health Officer, Neri James had said that he could not have found anyone to travel to the Grenadines.
“The people have to have somewhere to stay. I say there’s the airport hotel. I say you must find somewhere for two, three persons to sleep there,” the prime minister said.
Gonsalves was apparently referring to the terminal building of the Union Island Airport, which was damaged during the hurricane but has become the headquarters of the response effort.
“What you prefer for the people to stay up here and people die down there? I say, ‘You have to go and rough it, man.’ And commendably, they have gone down,” the prime minister said.
“And I’m hoping that we’ll see something, but you raise a real issue, and we had a long two-hour discussion on this with PAHO.”
Ollivierre reiterated his concern about stagnant water.
“… the darkness of it is of major concern and we must do something about that,” the lawmaker said.
“You’re quite right. That is a concern. I’m sure Jimmy hearing that too,” the prime minister said, referring to Minister of Health, Jimmy Prince.
In 2021, a dengue outbreak in St. Vincent and the Grenadines claimed at least eight lives.