WESTERN BUREAU:
The Chances Rehabilitation Centre, which operates two separate compounds in Eastern Hanover, has been given a two-week lifeline by authorities as the debate rages as to whether or not they will be allowed to continue operating.
The centre, which accommodates four mentally challenged persons, which includes four females, formerly operated in St James but was ordered closed by the St James Health Department, which was, among other things, concerned about the health situation.
Without the knowledge and consent of the Hanover municipal authorities and the parish health department, the owners of the facilities pulled out of St James and started operating from three buildings in the districts of Chigwell, and Rejoin, in the eastern section of Hanover.
WESTERN BUREAU:
Following St James record high mosquito Aedes index of 25.6 per cent in October, the St James Health Department is reporting that the index has reduced significantly to 18.2 per cent in November, which is in keeping with the parish’s constantly shifting Aedes numbers since January.
Sherika Lewis, the acting public health inspector for St James, gave the latest Aedes figures while addressing last Thursday’s monthly sitting of the St James Municipal Corporation, in Montego Bay. She also noted that more premises were inspected across the parish last month than in October.
“With the commencement of the task-worker programme on October 27, we have managed for the month of November to inspect a total of 18,000 premises, with 3,000 of them positive for mosquito breeding, which brings our Aedes index to approximately 18.2 per cent,” Lewis told the meeting.
Lennox Wallace
The St James Health Department is now working closely with police to disrupt the activities of thieves who are preying on farmers.
The health department has announced that an initiative was started on Monday, targeting meat shops, slaughterhouses, and butcher stalls in and around Montego Bay to ensure that the meats being sold to the public are from legitimate sources and not criminal suppliers.
The latest action by the health department comes in the wake of the killing of livestock farmers by criminals, who raided his Bickersteth, St James, farm last Sunday and stole his herd of goats