OPPOSITION spokesman on health, Dr Kenneth Baugh, yesterday called for the expansion of the anti-malaria programme to Jamaica’s 14 parishes, while accusing the government of being insensitive and unresponsive to early warning signs of a malaria outbreak.

Since the first four cases were reported last Friday, the number of people with the disease has increased to 21- up from 13 on Monday. The cases are concentrated in the Kingston 12, 13 and 14 areas as well as St Catherine.

“We don’t know how long it [malaria outbreak] has been around. We don’t know how vigilant the Ministry of Health has been. It should not have occurred,” Baugh told reporters yesterday during a press conference at the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) headquarters on Belmont Road in Kingston.

Blaming the outbreak on lax vector control, Baugh added: “We have too much experience for that to have occurred. We have maintained and monitored the mosquito population for years it should never have fallen off. We should have been on alert when the incident [malaria outbreak] jumped up suddenly.”

Meanwhile, Dr Baugh pointed out that a breeding site of the anopheles mosquito, which carries the malaria parasite, had been found along Marcus Garvey Drive in Kingston.

But, Dr Baugh, said the spread of the disease can be brought under control if the authorities ensure that the material, equipment and drugs are available in adequate quantities.

“We are asking them [government] to make sure that we have the availability of machines for ultra low volume (ULV) spraying of insecticides mixed with oil,” he said.

Added Baugh: “it is not enough to just concentrate these activities in Kingston and St Andrew, it is very important that these activities take place in every parish. Not only the surveillance of the mosquitoes and the fevers and the diagnosis, but we make sure that we are conducting spraying to kill the adult mosquitoes.”

He also suggested that the prophylactic anti-malaria tablets that are given to people who travel to countries at risk should be considered for persons living in high risk areas in Jamaica.

Continuing, Baugh said the allocation of $30 million into an anti-malaria programme will only be sufficient for the current cases, however. If more case arise, it will require much more funding, he added.