KINGSTON, Jamaica – Kingston and St Andrew Public Health Department personnel doing COVID-19 surveillance in the Corporate Area are finding it difficult to monitor taxi and bus operators.

Dr Kimberly Myers, medical officer of health, told the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) Disaster Preparedness and Public Health Committee meeting on Tuesday that the department was experiencing problems trying to monitor the transport sector.

“We need to get to the taxi and bus operators but there has been a setback in reaching the taxi associations and the Jamaica Urban Transit Company,” she said.

She said non-compliance and the lack of acceptance of masks are problems the Public Health Department were observing when carrying out their duties.

Meanwhile, People’s National Party councillors Neville Wright and Dennis Gordon of the Trench Town and Maxfield Park divisions respectively have expressed concern about the slow response of the parish disaster coordinator of the KSAMC to fire victims.

Wright said that the department needed more staff as it was under-resourced.

However, Robert Hill, the CEO of the KSAMC, while agreeing that the department needed more staff, said that any proposal to increase the personnel would have to be agreed to by the Ministry of Finance.

Claudienne Edwards