As the flood waters in communities along Mahaicony (Mahaica-Berbice) continue to recede slowly, residents are suffering health challenges.
According to reports received, adults, as well as children are battling influenza, rashes and other health issues
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo visits Mora Point, Mahaicony
as stagnant water remains on land in several areas.
Following the reported shortage of medical supplies at nearby health facilities, an official confirmed on Wednesday that an assessment has determined that the shortage was needed factual.
Residents had noted that there has been an influx of mosquitoes and when they sought treatment, especially for children, they were told that the Mora Point Health Centre and Mahaicony Hospital lacked the necessary medical supplies.
Aside from the health challenges the communities are facing, calls are once again being made by the residents for flood relief, Regional Vice Chairman Rion Peters told Guyana Times on Wednesday.
“Residents are calling for relief because they are into agriculture and they would have lost their crops and would like to continue,” Peters explained. He however noted that because the water is receding so slowly, the livelihoods of farmers are at a standstill. The Vice Chairman also related that the region’s administration is standing in solidarity with the residents.
“We stand by the residents because [the relief] will make their lives better,” he noted.
This publication has between reporting on the flood situation which was reported to have started since early April.
Residents of Mora Point and Gordon’s Table on Tuesday had expressed frustration that their cows, chickens and other livestock were at the mercy of the slowly receding floodwaters, in addition to their fields of rice and cash crops, which were destroyed.
A female resident of Mora Point on the Mahacony River, expressed annoyance that her community has not benefited from flood relief as in the case of Moraikobai when the Civil Defence Commission donated food supplies to residents there.
Meanwhile, farmers in Mahaicony are calling for Government’s assistance for seed paddy and fertiliser to help them continue rice cultivation to maintain their livelihood.
Regional Chairman Vickchand Ramphal had earlier noted that many of the affected communities are in need of urgent flood relief.
“Residents across the region in those areas that are affected should receive some form of relief so that they can get back on their feet,” the Chairman stated on Monday.
Ramphal had also highlighted that flood waters in the villages of Trafalgar, Union and Bush Lot had receded, but he stressed that communities in the Mahaicony area were inundated.
It was only last week that over 200 angry residents blocked the Number 30 Village main access road protesting the prolong flooding.
