Schools reopen after meningitis scare

Lynsley Doodhai -
Lynsley Doodhai -

BOTH the Fifth Company Baptist Primary, Moruga, and the San Fernando East Secondary school re-opened its doors on Monday following last week's meningitis scare. However, the secondary school student remains at home, recuperating, while awaiting laboratory tests to determine if it was indeed meningitis she contracted.

President of TT Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) Lynsley Doodhai said, while the Moruga Primary school reopened on Monday, there was a low turn-out of both teachers and students.

The school was closed for one week while the Maintenance Training and Security company sanitised the building in the aftermath of the death of student Emily Browne.

Emily, five, died at the San Fernando General Hospital from a confirmed case of meningitis. She was buried last Saturday after a service at the Third Company Baptist Church.

At the San Fernando East Secondary School, classes also returned to normal on Monday after one of the students who fell ill during class, was suspected of having contracted the disease which killed little Emily.

Last Wednesday, the Form Two student was taken to a private doctor who suspected meningitis. The child’s father informed the school of the doctor’s findings on Thursday, sparking panic and hysteria among students who took to social media stating that the school had meningitis.

Classes were dismissed early on Thursday and remained closed on Friday. A teacher at the Pleasantville school told the Newsday yesterday, “There is no meningitis at this school.”

Doodhai said he, too, had been informed there was no one at the school suffering from the disease, neither were there any suspected cases at the SFGH.

SFGH CEO Keith Mc Donald said he was not in a position to confirm whether there were suspected cases at the hospital.

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