PORT ANTONIO, Portland — Health officials in this parish have ordered a school closed and are now working with the councillor for the related division to get the institution that educates young children ready for the next school term.

“Unfortunately we had to close one basic school in June for gross insanitary conditions, rodent and roach infestation, lack of potable water and electricity. We were contacted by the councillor for the area and we will be meeting to look at the situation and how it can be remedied with further intervention and reopened in a better condition in September,” said chief public health officer for Portland Lorenzo Hume who did not identify the school by name.

He was providing his regular report during Thursday’s monthly meeting of the municipal corporation.

“Some of our police stations need improvement also,” Hume added on the same topic.

The public health official, who pointed to a link between unsanitary conditions and the breeding of mosquitoes, told the meeting that one business was recently successfully prosecuted after several failed attempts to get it to clean up its act.

“We take enforcement action seriously and took two [cases] before the parish court and in the wisdom of the clerk of court withdrew one. We were successful in the other where an egg farm [has had] significant fly breeding over a number of years and a number of complaints have come. We have had numerous interventions with experts and when all this failed we had to resort to the courts to carry out action against the farm. The judge charged the owner of the farm $100,000 with a warning that…if the nuisance continues the fine will be greater,” said Hume.

“The area surrounding the port has insanitary conditions like refuse management issues — meaning flight of the mosquitoes within the 400-metre radius will affect the port. Therefore, our Breteau index [which measures the density of mosquito larvae] is always high. We served 124 statuary notices, and 23 were obeyed,” he added.

The fight against mosquitoes also continues in residential areas. According to Hume, for the period under review his team inspected 699 premises and three unplanned communities. The latter, he said, pose the “biggest challenge in public health” because they are disorganised by nature. He mentioned problem areas such as Baker Street train line in Buff Bay “where the sanitation situation has not improved since the last survey in 2023”; Bryan’s Bay Fishing Beach where there are 20 houses and 12 small businesses including bars, shops, and a three-storey facility used by fishermen.

“Ten of those [businesses] are outside a bar and the Ole Marina and… have significant impact on the port,” he said.

Despite the challenges, Hume had high praise for the work done over the past two months by the parish’s vector control team in continuing the downward slide of the Breteau index which is now at 16, well below the target of 25.

“This is very good as the month of May was a rainy month and the control was carried over to the month of June,” he said.

The public health official also expressed satisfaction with the work being done to monitor the Aedes index in areas prone to breeding mosquitoes such as “automotive work sites like garages, tyre shops and welding shops”.

“They are a significant source of mosquito breeding and at times we have to treat old cars and tyres and ask that they be removed. They do take them to the dump site [but] the dump site is not in a good condition and we are working together to tackle the mosquitoes,” he explained.

Turning his attention to mosquitoes breeding in stored water, Hume spoke of the need to fill gaps in the piped supply of the commodity.

“We need to have improved access to potable water; [this] is most important in order to drive down the container index,” he appealed.

According to Hume, where water is provided within the parish, the quality is high.

“The status of the drinking water quality and bacteriology in particular was 96 per cent. For the last three months we have been having and maintain good quality water in the parish,” he assured.

“The [National] Water Commission premises that provides water is at 100 per cent; 27 samples were taken, 27 returned negative for any form of bacteria, which is wonderful. We are happy and hope that the provider, the [National] Water Commission maintains that going forward,” he added.