Bill would create ‘State Medical Guard’

By The Star Staff

District 13 (Manatí, Florida, Barceloneta and Arecibo) Rep. Jerry Nieves Rosario, who chairs the Northern Region Committee in the House, filed House Bill 649 over the weekend, which seeks to amend the “Military Code of Puerto Rico” in order to establish the “State Medical Guard,” which would be attached to the Puerto Rico National Guard.

“This will be the military force organized to attend and respond to any emergency: natural disasters, epidemics or other situations related to public health issues [under the jurisdiction of] the Government of Puerto Rico,” the lawmaker said.

“After the great scourge of hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, a large part of our population lacked drinking water and hygiene, dangerously increasing the probability of the spread of various diseases, which could well have triggered outbreaks or epidemics,” Nieves Rosario said.

The news media in Puerto Rico reported cases of scabies, conjunctivitis and gastroenteritis, among many others, which further complicated the outlook in some of the shelters that were operating after Hurricane Maria, he noted.

By the end of October 2017, at least 76 suspected or confirmed cases of leptospirosis (named for a bacteria found in the urine of rodents and other animals) had already been reported. Two deaths involved leptospirosis and were confirmed through laboratory tests.

“It tends to spread after floods, through drinking water or open wound infections, according to the World Health Organization,” the legislator said.