Minister of Health, John Boyce, yesterday received a donation of 300 mosquito nets from the Barbados Red Cross Society for use in Government???s health care institutions.

Director General of the Barbados Red Cross Society, Edmund Bradshaw, in presenting the nets, disclosed that they were among supplies donated to that local body by the Japanese Red Cross Society as part of a disaster preparedness project.

The Barbados Red Cross decided to donate some of the nets at this time, given the current outbreak of chikungunya in Barbados.

Mr. Boyce, in thanking the organisation for the gift, said that they will be used primarily in public health facilities such as the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the Geriatric Hospital and other district hospitals to protect the most vulnerable patients, particularly the elderly.

He said that the Environmental Health Department was continuing its efforts to combat chikungunya disease through an intensified island-wide fogging programme, as well as a heightened public awareness campaign aimed at educating people about the disease and how it can be prevented.

David Griffith, the Disaster Officer at the Barbados Red Cross Society, who witnessed the presentation, said that in addition to the donation to Government, mosquito nets would also be distributed to needy people in communities around the island.

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