MONTEGO BAY, St James — The St James Public Health Department is appealing for help to maintain a push to rid the parish of rodents. Heartened by the results of an initiative taken so far, the departmet is now ready to move to phase two.

“We are seeking funding for this initiative. I am sure that we are seeing a reduction in the rodent population across the city and we want to maintain that going forward,” chief public health inspector for the parish Shericka Lewis told Thursday’s monthly council meeting of the St James Municipal Corporation.

“We are looking at a budget of approximately $2.75 million,” she explained.

In response to questions from the Jamaica Observer Lewis said the first phase benefited from support from the private sector which buttressed funds sourced from within the health department. To move ahead, she said, they are fully dependent on external support.

“We are calling on our stakeholders, residents, NSWMA [National Solid Waste Management Authority], TEF [Tourism Enhancement Fund], TPDCo [Tourism Product Development Company], the police, Chamber of Commerce, the business community, NWA [National Works Agency], SDC [Social Development Commission], the service clubs, RADA [Rural Agricultural Development Authority], and the media, to partner with the St James Public Health Department,” Lewis urged during the meeting.

The rodent eradication programme was launched earlier this year and targeted areas mainly in downtown Montego Bay. For the second phase they are seeking to widen the geographical space for the programme.

“Areas to be included in phase two are the streets and lanes and internal areas that are bounded by the following streets: Queen Street, Cottage Road, Dudley Kassin Drive, Westgate, and Barnett Street,” she said.

There will be continued vigilance on areas that have already benefited from work previously done in phase one.

“We will also be focusing our efforts on several hotspots — the Charles Gordon Market, Fort Street, Sam Sharpe Square, and in the transportation centre,” Lewis said.

“We are planning to continue to re-bait in these areas twice per month as we want to suppress the rodent population,” she stressed.

The public health official is hoping they will be able to move to phase two soon.

“We would like to start it now, but [we can start] as soon as we get the commitments to get the baits. We are looking to start it by December or so, especially with the coming of the Christmas season,” she told the Observer.

Lewis stressed that rodent control needs to be a continuous effort.

“We feel accomplished but we are not resting on our laurels, because if we don’t get on it quickly, we don’t want it to go back to where it was. We are moving into the other streets and we want to do a rapid kill,” she insisted.

She told the meeting she is hopeful that the programme will expand to eight phases that go beyond the boundaries of Montego Bay and that everyone in the parish can benefit from it.