MBSA special committee to combat dengue
Written by (newsprint) Saturday, 28 February 2009 00:01
SALINA KHALID at the Shah Alam City Council full board meeting.
http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2009/2/28/central/3360561&sec=central
A committee will be set up soon to tackle the dengue problem in Shah Alam.
The committee, which will comprise heads of departments, councillors and community leaders, is part of efforts to combat the outbreak more effectively.
“The committee will go down to the ground and visit the hot spots that have been identified.
“It will also be involved in the integrated operations to be carried out,” Shah Alam mayor Mazalan Md Noor said.
Shah Alam has been identified as one of the areas in Selangor with the highest number of dengue cases.
Mazalan said although the figure was higher than that for the same period last year, the situation was still under control.
He said several joint operations together with the state and Petaling District health departments were carried out continuously throughout the city.
However, the figure does not seem to be going down.
“If one talks about figures, this year is definitely higher,” MBSA Urban Services Depart ment director Dr Roslan Fadzil said.
“In January last year, we had a total of 120 cases but this year, we had 140 during the same period.
“But, that is to be expected as it shows a common trend in the graph,” he said.
For the period between Feb 7 and 21, a total of 221 suspected dengue cases were reported in the state capital and 122 of them tested positive. This means a total of 771 suspected cases were reported in the city from Jan 1 to Feb 21, and about half of them (375 cases) were positive.
The local council had inspected more than 8,000 premises within the week from Feb 15 to 21, and issued 375 compounds to premises owners under the Local Government Act 1976, which carried a fine of RM500 for breeding mosquitoes.
In addition to constant inspection of premises in the city, the MBSA has also distributed fliers and brochures to raise awareness of the issue and remind the public of their role in combating the disease.
“We also carried out six gotong-royong events last week and conducted an awareness campaign at a school in Padang Jawa.
“All efforts involve the state and Petaling District health departments,” MBSA public relations officer Shahrin Ahmad said.
Yet, despite the numerous efforts, dengue remains a big threat in the city, with many residents still unaware of the risks of allowing mosquitoes to breed in their premises.
The figure seems to escalate every year, with Shah Alam remaining at the top of the chart – a position that the local council is won’t to keep.
Public apathy has been identified as one of the main reasons contributing to the statistics.
“Most people do not clean and maintain their water tank, corridor and gutter of their houses properly, thus providing breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
“We try to maintain the public places, like drains, and make sure they are free from mosquitoes. But, then, the problem lies within the private compounds inside the houses.
“Every time we come to fog the area, the residents close their door and windows,” Shahrin noted, adding that the move had prevented the local authority from conducting pesticide fogging to kill the aedes mosquito that transmits dengue fever in their premises.
Among the hotspots in the city are Padang Jawa, Section 26, Pangsapuri Anggerik in Section 16, Section 25 and Section 11.
The recent statistics from the National Dengue Task Force reveals that from Jan 1 to 28 this year, the disease claimed 14 lives nationwide with 5,062 cases, compared with only five fatalities and 2,855 cases over the same period last year.
The task force recorded a total of 49,335 cases throughout 2008 with 112 deaths throughout the country, in comparison with 48,846 cases in 2007, with 98 deaths.
Selangor recorded the highest number of cases at 1,196, with 48 cases in Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.
