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Falkland Islands: Weekly Penguin News Update

Year 10 students Catalina Paya, Emma Harte, Sonia Arkhipkina, Josephine Igao and Barbara Short are heading to the UK today to begin a three week adventure with Outward Bound. Story on page 2

Headlines: ‘Govt is disconnected from the community’; Five cases of swine flu confirmed.

‘Govt is disconnected from the community’

THE president of the Chamber of Commerce has pulled no punches in his annual address to members, saying the government’s restructure will only serve to further disconnect it from the community.

Roger Spink told members: “We fear that the introduction of another tier of management will not result in savings overall and could result in the government being even more remote from the people it serves.”

The recent visit by a number of oil operators had highlighted the problem, Mr Spink said: “It was, we believe, a useful exercise, however it was unfortunate that several senior and key members of our government administration were absent from the Islands during this visit.

“This was a demonstration of how disconnected from the community the government seems to have become.”

Also under attack was the operation of the Falkland Islands Development Board who Mr Spink said had a disregard bordering on contempt for its private sector representative.

“We feel that a private sector presence on FIDB provides it with credibility, however in practice items are agreed between government/FIDC/councillors beforehand,” he said.

He added: “Our representative also has a serious concern about a lack of engagement with the private sector.

“He feels that FIDC/government has an inclination or desire to ‘look outside’ first and private sector representatives have had to insist that FIDC should be supporting the development of existing companies and avoiding actions which stimulated direct competition with existing businesses. He has concerns that in practice this may not be adhered to.”

However, there was a positive message underlying Mr Spink’s address. Despite the present world economic situation and the collapse of the illex fishery, the private sector continued to invest in the future of the Islands, he said, adding if the economy was to move forward it was essential to engage the government at all levels in constructive debate.

He welcomed the decision to open up the consultation process on the Economic Development Strategy: “The final document should have broad support from the whole community. We need to create the economic environment necessary to allow the private sector to invest and grow.

“An economy can’t tax its way to prosperity – a large number of sophisticated econometric studies, undertaken over recent years, suggest a negative empirical relationship between taxation and GDP growth.”

Five cases of swine flu confirmed

FIVE of seven samples sent to the UK last weekend have tested positive for swine flu.

Two of the affected people are from Mount Pleasant and the remaining three are civilians; none are reported to have been seriously ill.

Chief Medical Officer, Dr Roger Diggle this week repeated his message that there was no need for the population to panic, most cases were mild and most people recovered quickly.

However, a number of parents have begun to ask if they can buy the anti-viral drug Tamiflu for their children.

Children under five may receive treatment if they became symptomatic, Dr Diggle said, however there were at least two other viral illnesses in the community at the moment - one is another strain of flu yet to be identified in the UK and the other is a viral gastroenteritis, meaning not every person with a high temperature and flu-like symptoms will have swine flu.

Dr Diggle said the hospital had sufficient stocks of Tamiflu to prescribe to those in the “at risk” groups: “We can obtain further supplies rapidly from the UK central strategic stock as needed.”

Cost to the government was not a factor, he said: “The decision whether to treat everyone is more complex. The advice from our microbiology advisor is only to treat those in the at risk groups.”

The Pandemic Influenza Management Committee met on Tuesday and agreed that fishing companies and other operators of ships could purchase antivirals from the hospital, provided sufficient stocks were retained to treat the general population.

However the committee said it was inappropriate for individuals travelling abroad to obtain a course of antivirals just in case they should become ill.

Dr Diggle said: “They should seek help from the medical authorities in the country they happen to be in at the time.

“They should have adequate travel insurance and not travel if unwell.”