WESTERN BUREAU – The St James Parish Council has approved the local health authority’s request for funding to support a mosquito control and eradication programme in the parish.

According to the council’s secretary/manager Ian Reid the local authority is now having discussions with the health department to finalise the cost of the programme.

About three months ago, the health department asked for $600,000 from the council to help fund the project. But at last week’s monthly meeting, some councillors argued that the figure should be upped because of the recent increase in the parish’s mosquito population.

The council then moved a motion to provide funds to the health department but mandated Reid to get a detailed report on the programme to determine exactly how much money was needed.

The health department is happy for the help.

“We welcome the decision because unfortunately we do not have the sort of resources to sustain our vector programme,” chief public health inspector at the St James Health

Department Desmond Clarke told the Observer Thursday.

As soon as the funds are allocated, he said, the health department would immediately begin the programme.

Mosquitos are more noticeable nuisances now, in the rainy season, Clarke added.

“We have been getting complaints about the mosquito nuisance from far and wide in the parish so we have to act quickly,” he urged.

To eradicate the adult mosquitoes, the health department will do fogging in selected areas each evening, while efforts to eliminate the larva will be carried out in the daytime.

Areas to be targeted under the proposed programme include Greenwood, Catherine Hall, Mount Salem, Long Bay, Glendevon and West Green.