Police presence outside the Central Methodist Church, where refugees are camping out in protest. Picture: Courtney Africa / African News Agency (ANA) Police presence outside the Central Methodist Church, where refugees are camping out in protest. Picture: Courtney Africa / African News Agency (ANA)
Cape Town – Provincial Health Department officials visiting refugees at the Central Methodist Church in Greenmarket Square yesterday found no signs of serious illness or infectious diseases there.
The department had responded to a call from some refugees, who feared that chicken pox may have broken out among four children and two adults inside the church.
Department spokesperson Marika Champion said officials from the Community Based Health Services (CBS) in association with the City Health Environmental unit and Law Enforcement visited the site yesterday.
“They acted on the basis of calls from certain members of the community, regarding suspected cases of illness among the children. Unfortunately, the officials could not access the church premises. They managed to scan the outside community members and found no signs of serious illness or infectious diseases,” said Champion
She added that the department was responsible for the personal health of citizens and it urged parents to take their children to their nearest health facility if illness was suspected.
“The CBS teams are mainly there for outreach services to communities, and that is why they responded to this call,” said Champion.
Refugees in the church, however, said there were no cases of chicken pox inside the church, as claimed by refugee leader Papy Sukami.
Sukami had co-led the refugees with Jean-Pierre Balous before a faction fell out with Balous and demanded he step down as leader.
Balous was expected to appear in court today to face charges of assault.
Sukami said: “I called the Department of Health. There is a risk of an chicken pox epidemic developing inside the church.”