On Tuesday we told you about the Western Regional hospital vendors who were removed from the compound by police and forced to sell food outside the hospital gate - as a part of the rat eradication campaign. Well, that's where they are today but that's not where they want to stay. When they spoke to us on Tuesday they told us they want answers because their livelihoods and safety are at risk. Today we asked Health CEO Peter Allen what they are doing to accommodate these vendors.
Courtney Weatherburne
"Looking at the vendors first of all, we are aware that you said in an interview before with CTV3, that removing the vendors from the hospital is a part of the entire system or approach to dealing with the rat population at the hospital. But the vendors are saying that it's unfair to them because they believe they are not a part pf the problem and that it will affect their livelihood. How do you respond to that?"
Dr. Peter Allen, CEO - Ministry of Health
"Essentially, what we ask was for our technical officers to go in with the management and staff of the Western Regional Hospital and to develop a plan that dealing with this really outrageous problem. Now, part of that plan was clearing the yard, Part of it was cleaning holes and sealing holes. Part of it is replacing screens and doors. Part of it is rodenticide and the use of chemicals and traps. Part of it is going into the neighbors' yard which has not been cleared and cleaning those and doing our best to make sure they stay clean and part of it was that the public health inspectorate recommended that for right now the vendors where the structures are not considered appropriate should be moved with the understanding that once the problem is controlled, that we should be able to create a better environment for the vendors to returned to. Certainly we sympathized with that situation. We can't of course ask the management to control the situation and then immediately disallow a decision of the management. So we support the management in their decision. In terms of time frame, I would love to give exact figure, but I would put the time frame in terms of months rather than years. Of course we certainly understand the plight of vendors who have families to support and we certainly hope that we can have that situation fixed as quickly as possible."
So for now, the vendors will have to operate outside the hospital compound. When we spoke to the vendors yesterday they told us that they went to the Belmopan City Council and they were told they could stay on the property outside.
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