The picture on page 5 of yesterday’s Daily Express tells a particularly troubling tale about the continued challenges faced by garbage disposal systems in various parts of the country.

This one, however, was all the more disgusting since it revealed the situation as it stands on the compound of the Port of Spain General Hospital.

Persons using the facility, including vendors, complained that the garbage collectors hadn’t been seen on the compound for two weeks. Rubbish was piled high in the bin identified as belonging to the Solid Waste Management Company (SWMCOL). And with nowhere else for it to go, the refuse was being dumped on the ground around the overflowing bin.

From the comments of some of the people who must use this facility, some of them the very vendors who service the patients and the visitors on a daily basis, it appears the issue surrounds access to the bin by the disposal trucks. The drivers complain that cars get in the way.

On the compound of a major public health facility such as the General Hospital in the capital city the sight was a most unwelcome, unwholesome and unsanitary one, especially at a time of heightened awareness about concerns over health and sanitation.

And how can this state of affairs be allowed to develop to the point where a health and sanitation hazard is created, without notice of any of those persons charged with the responsibility of managing the facility and its premises is beyond understanding.

A similar lack of attention to the details on this question of health and sanitation was also in evidence after the rally of sorts in Woodford Square in Port of Spain on Friday. Again the Express report of this development spoke of portable toilets left on spot overnight, some of them having been capsized, their contents spilling on the ground. This created a stink that greeted patrons who arrived Saturday morning for the activities connected to the Caribbean Wellness programme.

In Arima and elsewhere across the country there appear to be huge challenges with the proper operation of the systems of garbage disposal. Trucks are not running with anything like the accepted levels of regularity and consistency within recent times.

Basic services such as these are either being overlooked or not being given the attention they deserve. At the very least, members of the public ill-circumstanced by these lapses in delivery of such services deserve to know the reasons for these breakdowns.