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Most pavement dwellers have TB

Dec 25, 2015 News

– says senior social welfare official

 

The Ministry of Social Protection is in receipt of information that the majority of the homeless population has Tuberculosis (TB), a senior welfare official disclosed.
The official said that the public is unaware of being exposed on a daily basis to TB-infected homeless people dwelling on the streets.
“Every day we pass them on the streets and remain totally ignorant that they are carrying any contagious disease. The Social Protection Ministry is aware of the situation but what can we do.
“These people have their rights; we can’t force them to do screening or come into a shelter or a hospital for treatment,” the source stated, adding that the number of persons living on the streets with the disease is unknown.
Social Protection Minister Volda Lawrence stated that the Ministry is aware that some homeless people are infected with the virus, but only the ones who go into a shelter or the Palms for help.
“Those are the ones we know of,” she said, noting that these people are screened and treated. “We don’t allow them to go back into society without being treated.”
According to PAHO/WHO, some 17,000 people in the Americas died of TB complications in 2013. These were among the more than 285,000 infected with TB. It was also disclosed that countries in the Americas reported 220,500 new cases of TB cases in 2013 of which 5.3 per cent (11,379) were children.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they do have TB, since all of them are exposed to harsh conditions,” Public Health Minister George Norton stated. He said that the immune systems of these people might have become compromised, and so cause them to easily contract diseases.
He said it is a major public health issue that needs to be addressed at a national level.
“It wouldn’t take the Ministry of Public Health alone to do it but everyone,” he posited, adding that there should be an urgency to get these people off of the streets and into shelters or homes.
“They are the vectors of certain diseases, and so it is vital that they are removed from the streets not only for the public safety, but also from an environmental perspective,” he said.
However, it is very difficult, Norton stated, to control the situation since most of the homeless population turns up at night and disappears in the day. They are very obstinate.  “We don’t have control of them like we have in the prisons.”
Currently, the Social Protection Ministry is collaborating with a welfare committee to tackle the issue of homeless.  The committee, which is a spin-off from a Mayor and City Council Programme, is being chaired by Major General (Ret’d) Joseph Singh.
Minister Lawrence said the sub-committee has completed its preliminary investigations and is moving ahead in 2016 to have the homeless removed from the streets.
She stated that a part of the programme will incorporate medical evaluation by the Public Health Ministry to determine if the individual was battling with a social issue or if he has a psychological illness.
She said that the committee includes persons from the Ministry of Public Health, the Mayor and City Council and the Ministry of Legal Affairs.

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