More help needed to fight dengue epidemic – MoH

WHILE Tourism Administrator Salamon Shamah is playing down the dengue epidemic and telling media to reduce reports, a senior Health Ministry official is calling for an inter-institutional commission to fight the problem.

Authorities of the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Coclé are awaiting the results of tests to determine if there has been another case of dengue fever in Penonomé.

The patient, a native of the area of Las Lomas, was treated initially at Aquilino Tejeira Hospital in Penonomé and later transferred to Santo Tomas Hospital in Panama City.
Authorities have started fumigating Las Lomas and surrounding areas to eliminate breeding sites of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which transmits the disease.
Ministry Regional Director Eduardo Pinzón said that there have been 60 cases of dengue fever in Coclé and 20 other suspected cases that are being analyzed.
Most of the cases have been reported in Aguadulce, where the main problem is the lack of garbage collection.
There are multiple cases in Panama City, and San Miguelito and recently in Casco Viejo.
Pinzón has suggested the establishment of an inter-institutional commission to fight the dengue problem. He said that, currently, the MoH is alone in the battle.