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Denece Douglas, Deputy Chief Public Health Inspector for St. Catherine and Sydney Rose, St. Catherine Public Health and Sanitation Committee
The St. Catherine Public Health Department says it cannot confirm a correlation between the pile-up of garbage at several schools in the parish and children falling ill.
Deputy Chief Public Health Inspector for St. Catherine, Denece Douglas, said health inspectors have received reports of a garbage pile-up in at least three schools and have on several occasions called the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) to address the matter.
However, she said the department could not say whether the garbage was the cause of students becoming sick or whether it was linked to any increased reports of students having diarrhoea.
Ms Douglas said she would check with the health department's surveillance team and give an update next month.
She was responding to concerns highlighted at a recent meeting of the St. Catherine Public Health and Sanitation Committee.
Committee chairman Sydney Rose complained that several schools, to include Charlemont High, Ewarton High and Eltham Primary, have been experiencing overflowing garbage for extended periods.
Mr. Rose said he received reports that students were becoming ill, vomiting, having diarrhoea, and being told by a medical doctor that this was due to the "unsanitary spaces" they were in.
He added that teachers have started to complain that "large numbers" of students appear to be "coming down with this bug".
Mr. Rose believes not enough attention is being paid to the parish's public health department.
He suggested that an increase in the cadre of public health inspectors would assist in identifying health concerns at schools.
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