Health department moves to eradicate rats in Montego Bay

 

A mid-growing concern about a rat infestation crisis in the commercial district in downtown Montego Bay, the St. James Health Department has launched a major programme to control and eradicate the pest.

 

Codenamed 'Keep the Rodents Away from Montego Bay', the control programme was launched on Labour Day. 

 

Deputy Chief Public Health Inspector for St. James Nadia Burgess says several stakeholders have joined the Health Department in its campaign, including the Cari-Med Group, the St. James Municipal Corporation and the National Solid Waste Management Authority.

 

"We have launched this programme in light of what we have found in the recent years. So we have seen an increase in the number of complaints we received about rat infestation. We have noted infestation indicators, especially in the food service industry.... So this programme will cover 18 priority areas across the parish. We are focusing on the township, the commercial areas, so commercial districts such as the Charles Gordon Market, sections of Barnett Street include the transportation centre, a 1-kilometre radius of Sam Sharpe Square, Fort Street," she outlined. 

 

The Deputy Chief Public Health Inspector for St. James said Phase 1 of the programme will continue over the next few weeks to rid downtown Montego Bay of the rodents.

 

"Phase 1 will cover the 18 priority areas and we will have other phases that will cover other areas. So what we intend to do is to do baiting today and we will do two series of rebaiting in the next couple of weeks.... We will do evaluations in between each bait cycle and we will do some data collection in terms of the number of dead rats and we will interview the community members or members within the commercial districts," said Ms. Burgess.