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We know that other samples were pending verification, but since then, we haven't really heard anything. So did Chik-V just go away? Today the CEO in the Ministry of Health told us that it kinda did!:...

Dr. Peter Allen, Chief Executive Officer, Ministry of Health
"As you know while there was real chaos in Jamaica and actually a state of emergency was declared in Surinam, our people linked with the community actions of member of the community throughout the country, were able to limit the number of confirm Chik-V cases to less than 10 for last year."

Jules Vasquez
"Sir, I have a healthy skepticism on Chik-V situation, are you able to say specifically, how many samples were sent to CARPHA for testing? How many were confirmed as negative or positive from CARPHA?"

Dr. Peter Allen
"It's always good to have a healthy skepticism and for constructive criticism, I am afraid I don't have the exact numbers, but what I will commit to you is to get the exact numbers for you and have them reported to you through our epidemiology department. So, if would give us until Friday, then I will ask Ms. Claudette to make those figures available to you."

We await those results. And while Chik-V is contained, there's an outbreak of Hepatitis A in the village of Buena Vista Village in the Cayo District. 22 cases have been confirmed at the Buena Vista government school and, today, CEO Allen told us what's being done about it:..

Jules Vasquez
"What is the status with the number of cases and the containment effort?"

Dr. Peter Allen
"You know I don't know why I am surprised that the media knows more about these things than I ever expect them to. But indeed, we appear to have an outbreak of Hepatitis A, in that particular school. Hepatitis A is a food or waterborne disease. Our staff have been working with the school for the last week and actually were presenting with the parents/teachers association meeting just last night in the village. We believe that the outbreak is controlled, but we are still searching for what in these types of cases we called the index case - the primary case from which the other cases may have become infected. So we are still working on that. But we do believe we have it under control. We are actively engaged from the Ministry of Health with the staff of the school, with the parents of the children and of course with the children themselves."

We are told that doctors went to the school today to take blood samples. The Hepatitis A virus is transmitted through ingestion of contaminated food and water, or through direct contact with an infected person and is associated with a lack of safe water and poor sanitation.

Moving on now to the post of Deputy Director of Health Services. In August we told you that the CEO had sent out an internal memo saying Dr. Marvin Manzanero would be appointed. But he wasn't and still isn't. In fact, no one is currently in the very senior post. We asked Allen about the administrative kerfuffle:..

Jules Vasquez
"Some months ago an internal email was sent to everyone saying that Dr. Manzanero was the deputy director of health services, but it turns out that public service rejected that nomination, which I believe was your nomination and they nominated or directed that Dr. Francis Murray should be the deputy DHS, but you rejected that and so the post is held in abeyance right now. What is the status of the deputy DHS?"

Dr. Peter Allen
"Yes, the post is essentially in abeyance. Its public knowledge of course, that Dr. Murray is mentioned in one of the audit reports, particularly the one for the Southern Regional Hospital. Interviews were held with the public service commission with 4 officers who applied for the position and the members of the interview panel placed two candidates as equal first. One of those was Dr. Manzanero, the other was not Dr. Murray. Dr. Murray however, was nominated by the public service commission or was made by the public service commission to be first of all appointed and then promoted. To be perfectly frank, we cannot support that decision until the outcome of the investigation into the audit report from the auditor general in the south is clearly establish. As you know Dr. Murray received certain cheques from Ms. Sommerville - that's not in dispute and so we have our concerns in that regard."

Jules Vasquez
"But yours is not to make decisions. Yours is to do a public service directs."

Another pressing administrative matter involves the former administrator of the Southern Regional Hospital, Nasley Sommerville. An audit of the hospital's child and maternal care account shows that almost four hundred thousand dollars was embezzled - and Sommerville was implicated. That was over a year ago - and she has not been arrested or terminated. Allen gave us the status today:..

Dr. Peter Allen
"My understanding is that she is on suspension without pay. Its only the public service commission that can dismiss or terminate a public officer and so they are going through the deliberations still for that particular case."

And what about the case of the southern region polyclinics? The administrators in both Dangriga and Punta Gorda were not public officer; they were contract officers. They were both fired, but, again, there has been no criminal action taken. We asked Allen why:

Jules Vasquez
"Are there actionable instances of misfeasance in which criminal charges can be brought?"

Dr. Peter Allen
"You are quite right of course. Usually with the audit we forward the report from the auditor general's department to the commissioner of police. That has also been done with the audits in the south, in the Dangriga Polyclinic and the Punta Gorda Polyclinic. My understanding is that for those audits, the findings did not amount to what would be considered sufficient for criminal proceedings, but still we send all the audits to the commissioner of police, for them to make their decision."

And staying with the clinics - last week Friday afternoon, the Cleopatra White polyclinic in Belize City was suddenly closed and patients diverted to the KHMH. Allen told us it was an infection gone awry:..

Dr. Peter Allen
"A patient with an abscess was in the waiting area while the abscess actually ruptured. And the clinic was closed down for I think two hours. The next morning I understand, the clinic was open again. We are simply reviewing that case, because it would not be part of our normal protocol to close the clinic under such circumstances. There are other measures which we could take. But yes, that did happened. The clinic was closed for a couple of hours and it opened again for normal business the next morning."

Jules Vasquez
"Sir, they shouldn't have closed it in the first place and sent the people home who were waiting. They should not have done that."

Dr. Peter Allen
"I am hesitant to be so one percent or categorical, because I am not aware of all of the facts. The facts that I do have so far, would suggest that they didn't follow the established protocol."

Later on, we'll have a little more from the KHMH - when we ask about the recent maternal death of Norma Marroquin.