Negligence the cause of outbreak: Philip

IT was the people’s negligence in basic family hygiene compounded by the lack of basic Government services that overtime led to the dysentery and flu outbreak, Menyamya MP Benjamin Philip said.
 “We are facing the consequences of our own careless attitudes and behaviours,” Mr Philip told a gathering of about 300 in front of the district office last Thursday.
“We have been taking pride to eat rice and tinned fish for the past 30 years.
“That same pride has to be extended into family homes and communities to take ownership and responsibilities to look after ourselves.
“We cannot wait and expect advice from health authorities alone because they do not understand our problems unless they come and diagnose us.”
He said he also feared that other killer diseases like tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS had not been seriously addressed “and they are silently killing people”.
“It’s high time now for the district administration to critically assess the health situation and come up with short and long-term strategies,” Morobe provincial deputy health adviser and Menyamya task force coordinator Micah Yawing said.
“Health is everybody’s business. Councillors, peace officers, youth, women’s group, church leaders, president’s, ordinary citizens, administrators, we all have to address health issues seriously everyday in our lives,” Mr Yawing said.
He noted that lack of awareness had bred ignorance when relatives of patients diagnosed with TB feared of their lives and abandoned their sick relatives at the health centre and disappeared.