Girl pining for missing dad

BY LOH FOON FONG AND YUEN MEIKENG

Lending a hand Rohani carrying little Muhammad as his mother Intan and sister Iman look on.

   

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SHAH ALAM: Despite her tired looking eyes, five-year-old Iman Mohamed Hasnan scuttled about, playing with her mother and kissing her two-month-old brother Muhammad.

Her mother, air stewardess Intan Maizura Othaman, 34, is wife to Hazrin Mohamed Hasnan, an air steward aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.

Iman, she said, had lately begun crying every night.

“She also likes to hold on to a framed photo of her father and falls asleep with it each night,” Intan said at her home yesterday.

The family had just been visited by Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim who handed out duit raya to them.

According to Intan, the little girl had seen the news on TV about the MH17 crash and became more anxious about her father after that.

“I am worried about her and have made an appointment for her to see a child psychologist,” said Intan, who is on maternity leave after giving birth to Muhammad.

She said she herself felt anxious at times because there had been no closure for the families of those aboard MH370 which went missing after leaving Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8.

Rohani assured her that the ministry had not forgotten these families, even though it had been busy assisting the families of those killed when MH17 was shot down on July 17.

Meanwhile, 11 families of those on board MH17 have asked Rohani to have her ministry provide them with counselling.

Rohani said a counsellor had been assigned to each family.

“We are open to assigning counsellors to the other families but some are just not ready.

“The ministry has 25 counsellors who are on duty 24 hours a day.

“They will follow their assigned families closely and be there for them in this time of need and can be contacted if anyone breaks down emotionally,” Rohani told reporters in Putrajaya yesterday after accompanying Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah and Raja Permaisuri Agong Tuanku Hajah Haminah during a meeting with the victims’ next of kin.

Insurance claims made easy

KUALA LUMPUR: Life insurance companies have agreed to waive the death certificate requirement and to speed up claims for payouts to next-of-kin of MH17 victims. The Life Insurance Association of Malaysia said its members agreed to do this within a week of the beneficiaries being confirmed. It was reported that some 95 life insurance policies, involving about RM13.7mil, had been taken up by Malaysian passengers and crew members on board the ill-fated plane.

Hisham to help bring remains home

PULAU INDAH: Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein Onn has been tasked to work with several ministries to bring back the remains of the 43 Malaysians on the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17. He named Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom and Tan Sri Joseph Kurup from the Prime Minister’s Department and Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim as among those roped in to assist in the effort.

Counselling  for caregivers and staff

PUTRAJAYA: The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry is ready to provide support and counselling for the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) caregivers and staff who have to deal with two tragedies within the span of five months. The Ministry’s deputy minister Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun said the same MAS caregivers have been providing support for the next-of-kin involved in both incidents.

DNA samples  taken from families

PUTRAJAYA: DNA samples have been taken from the families of 47 people who were on board Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17. The 47 comprised 43 Malaysians and four others who were living overseas but had blood ties with Malaysians in this country, according to ministry officials. A 16-member forensic team from the ministry, police and Chemistry Department collected the data.

MAS to host  inter-faith prayers

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Airlines will host an inter-faith prayer session at its premises for the passengers and crew of Flight MH17. The prayers will be conducted by religious leaders from the Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Taoist and Hindu faiths at Malaysia Airlines Academy in Kelana Jaya here today. The session will begin at 7.30pm.

MH17: 45 DNA samples taken from victims' next-of-kin in Malaysia

the star

BY LOH FOON FONG

PETALING JAYA: As many as 45 DNA samples have been taken from the next-of-kin of those who died following the shoot-down of Malaysian Airlines (MAS) flight MH17 on July 17 in Ukraine.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said two more samples were still in the process of being taken from two families.

"MAS has informed that 43 of the victims have family ties in Malaysia," he said in a statement Thursday.

Dr Subramaniam said there were victims who lived overseas but had family ties in Malaysia, bringing the number of families involved in ante mortem Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) and DNA sample data collection to 47.

The DNA samples taken were from next-of-kin with biological ties, such as parents, children and siblings.

Meanwhile, he added that six health teams have been activated to be on standby to receive and manage the bodies sent from Amsterdam.

He also said that the medical teams from Hospital Serdang and Hospital Putrajaya had been on standby to provide the medical needs of the deceased families if needed.

Netherlands and Malaysia working together to identify victims of crash

the star

Routine procedure: Family members of the crash victims leaving the briefing room at the Marriott Hotel in Putrajaya while waiting to give their DNA samples.

PETALING JAYA: The Dutch Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team has begun screening and tagging the bodies of those killed in the Malaysia Airlines MH17 crash together with the Malaysian crime investigation team and the Special Malaysian Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART).

Health director-general Datuk Seri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the Ministry’s Forensic department head Dr Mohd Shah Mahmood and Dr Ilham Haron (armed forces forensic odontologist) had accompanied the bodies to Amsterdam.

In Putrajaya, the Health Ministry began collecting DNA blood samples and inner cheek swabs of parents, siblings and children of those who died in the tragedy yesterday and the process would be continued today.

Dr Noor Hisham said the samples would be matched with the DNAs of the deceased. Asked if the DNA samples had to be used quickly, he said: “There is no limited time for use as long as the integrity of the post-mortem material is preserved.”

The samples were taken by a group comprising forensic, medical and dental specialists.

Bukit Aman Criminal Investiga­tions Department (Forensic Data­bank DNA) deputy director Senior Asst Comm T. Narenasagaran said samples and swabs were taken from family members of 29 passengers on board MH17 in addition to dental records or additional physical information of the victims.

DNA identification of bodies

“The information is analysed before it is sent to the investigation team in Amsterdam,” he said, adding that samples of family members of the crew will be taken today.

Dr Noor Hisham said forensic teams would normally identify the bodies by fingerprints and dental analysis but if the bodies had missing limbs, DNA profiles would be used instead.

According to the DVI Guide, primary sources of identification pro­cess include finger printing, forensic dental analysis and DNA analysis while secondary sources include medical reports such as previous surgery scars, personal identification such as tattoos, rings and necklaces.

Finger printing would be used only if skin is still intact and printable and these would be checked against passports, documents from the National Registration Depart­ment or other databases.

Dr Noor Hisham said the current DNA test method could produce quick results and only required small samples.

The method used was polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques, a biochemical technology to amplify a single or few copies of DNA to gene­rate a particular DNA sequence.

“Well-equipped centres should be able to identify bodies using DVI within a few days,” he said.

He said with 282 bodies intact with 87 fragments it meant that most could be identified fast using primary and secondary identification process.

Shared sorrow: Dutch national Franny Holgado, 34, signing the condolence book for MH17 victims at the residence of the Netherlands’ ambassador to Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur.

MH17: Dutch embassy opens condolence book

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZciPqe1WyA

Ukrainian rebels have so far honoured two of three conditions

BY ZUHRIN AZAM AHMAD, LOH FOON FONG, SANTHA OORJITHAM, YUEN MEIKENG, AUSTIN CAMOENS, P. ARUNA, NURBAITI HANIM HAMDAN, YU JI, RAHIMY RAHIM, LOSHANA K. SHAGAR, RASHVINJEET SINGH BEDI, CHRISTOPHER TAN, JASTIN AHMAD TARMIZI, TASHNY SUKUMARAN, HEMANANTHANI SIVANANDAM, MICHELLE TAM, AND NADIRAH HANI RODZI

MH17 - Malaysia received black box (updated) PUTRAJAYA: There were risks involved in pursuing the agreement with Ukraine’s rebel leaders but Malaysia had an obligation to the families of the victims, said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

The Prime Minister said the Government was determined to secure the return of the remains and black boxes.

“After meeting the families, I felt that we owed it to them to act. These were extraordinary circumstances which called for extraordinary measures.

“There were risks involved in pursuing this agreement. So far, the agreement has been honoured,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Najib said he was pleased to confirm that the first two of the three conditions agreed with Ukrainian rebel leaders had been met.

The train carrying the bodies recovered from the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 arriving at the Malyshev Tank Plant in the government-held Ukrainian city of Kharkiv from the eastern city of Donetsk. -AFP

The train carrying the victims’ remains had arrived in Kharkiv and the Malaysian team had custody of the black boxes, he said, adding that the boxes appeared to be in good condition.

“They will be held securely in Malaysian custody while the international investigation team is being formalised.

“At that time, we will pass the black boxes to the international investigation team for further analysis,” he said.

The Prime Minister said he was relieved to secure the breakthrough which had allowed things to move forward.

“I would like to thank the Malaysian team on the ground that has worked hard to support this operation.

“Thanks to their efforts, we are closer to finding out what happened to the aircraft and fulfilling our shared responsibility to those who lost their lives,” he said.

At midnight on Monday, Najib announced that he had reached an agreement with Alexander Borodai, who is in command of the region where the ill-fated flight was shot down, to bring an end to the stand-off over the site.

Separatists controlling the crash site also handed over the black boxes of the stricken airliner. -Kamarul Ariffin/The Star

The deal stipulated the return of the passengers’ remains, the handover of the black boxes and full access to the crash site for investigations to begin.

In The Hague, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the first bodies from the MH17 crash would be flown to Eindhoven today.

However, he said their identification could take weeks or months.

“As soon as a victim is identified, first and foremost the family will be informed and no one else,’’ Rutte said, confirming that all the bodies would be brought to the Netherlands and then flown on to their respective countries.

PLUS patrol members trained to respond quickly to accidents

The Star

PETALING JAYA: More than 200 PLUS patrol members have been trained on first aid to attend to accident victims over the coming festive period.

To-date, 220 out of 476 patrol members have been given the training.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said the PLUSRonda service would be launched along the Tanjung Malim-Seremban route for the first two weeks and later expanded to all PLUS routes and other highways in the country.

He said this during the launch of the first aid responder service by PLUSRonda yesterday.

Dr Subramaniam said the ministry would liaise with the Works Ministry through the Malaysian Highway Authority (MHA) and highway concessionaires to provide quick response to accident victims.

He said while a PLUSRonda team member rendered first aid, another would contact the PLUS call centre to report the accident for the latter to activate the MERS999 system for an ambulance.

Last year, of the 20,473 road accidents in the country, 1,308 or 6.4% occurred on highways.

The fatality rate on highways totalled 704 with 604 injuries reported.

PLUS Malaysia Bhd managing director Datuk Noorizah Abd Hamid said it could take up to 20 minutes for PLUS to respond to accidents depending on the distance.

'Two months to stem dengue rise'

The Star

BY LOH FOON FONG

Working towards a solution: Muhyiddin chairing the meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Putrajaya. Also present are Health Minister Datuk Sri Dr S. Subramaniam (right) and Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (left).

PUTRAJAYA: The National Committee on Dengue has promised to bring down the number of dengue cases within two months, said committee chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the committee had come up with a comprehensive action plan to address the epidemic by putting more effort and resources into dengue hotspots.

The committee consists of the Health, Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government, Works as well as the Human Resources ministries. It works with state governments, local councils and other agencies.

“The high number of dengue cases in the country is worrying,” Muhyiddin said after chairing the inaugural committee meeting here yesterday.

He added that the Government had made the two-month target as part of the key performance indicator of the various ministries and agencies involved, with monitoring by the health secretariat.

Muhyiddin said the possibility of allocating more beds for dengue patients would also be looked into, adding that the Health Ministry could request for more funds if it faced a shortage.

However, Muhyiddin warned that it would be difficult to see a drop in the number of cases if there was no cooperation from the community.

Neither did he commit to a specific quantum in reduction in the given timeline, saying that it was “difficult”, though he did add that there was no reason to declare a “dengue emergency”.

Muhyiddin also urged construction sites to clean up, failing which they could be fined up to RM50,000 and the persons in charge could be jailed up to five years.

A total of 92 people have died from dengue between Jan 1 and July 12 this year compared with 28 cases in the same period last year – a 229% increase.

Case-wise, the country recorded 48,845 cases of dengue fever for the same period this year compared to 14,126 cases for the same period last year, an increase of 246%.

Of the 492 dengue hotspots nationwide, 264 were in Selangor, 66 in Kelantan, 45 in Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, 41 in Negri Sembilan, 28 in Johor and 14 in Sarawak, with the rest in other states.

Doctors find Aussie woman's organ donation a unique case

THE STAR

KUALA LUMPUR: Despite their rigorous training, a team of Malaysian doctors specialising in organ transplants still had to think twice before accepting a pair of kidneys from an Australian woman last Thursday.

The reason is that none of them had ever harvested organs from someone who is in “cardiac death”, or what is also known as donation after cardiac death (DCD).

All along, our doctors had only taken organs as well as tissues such as corneas, heart valves, skin and bones from those who had been certified as “brain dead”.

The fortitude of doctors at the National Transplant Resource Centre headed by Datin Dr Lela Yasmin Mansor was put to the test when Shelley Elizabeth Mahoney’s family decided to withdraw her life support.

Mahoney’s family made the decision after her doctors opined the 63-year-old was beyond resuscitation, having sustained irreversible brain injuries in a boating accident on June 30.

Dr Lela said the transplant team only swung into action after the family gave their assurance they would not hold Malaysian doctors responsible if the kidney transplant failed.

“There is no guarantee that we can retrieve her kidneys as death has to occur within 60 minutes from the time the ventilator is switched off in order for the organs to be viable,” she said, adding that if death occurs after an hour, only tissue donation is viable.

When Mahoney’s heart stopped beating after nine minutes, her kidneys were removed and transplanted to two Malaysian females, one of whom had waited 20 years for a donor. Her corneas were also harvested.

According to National Nephrology Services head Datuk Dr Ghazali Ahmad, DCD could increase the pool of kidneys, but he feels that not many Malaysians are ready for organ donation in the first place.

The country is facing a severe shortage of kidney donors, with more than 18,000 patients waiting for one.

DCD has increasingly gained attention in recent years as an appropriate way of recovering organs, though Dr Lela cautioned that it should not be seen as a form of undue pressure on the next-of-kin.

Mahoney comforted by donation of wife's kidneys

the star

BY LOH FOON FONG

PETALING JAYA: Knowing that his wife’s kidneys are now helping two Malaysians to live gives Anthony John Mahoney (pic) a measure of comfort following her sudden death.

Shelley Elizabeth Mahoney, 63, died in a boating accident on July 4, and her pair of kidneys were offered to two recipients after she entered into cardiac death.

“Knowing that the kidneys are healthy and doing fine does help me to get through the grief,” said Mahoney, 70, in a telephone interview from Penang yesterday.

“It was her wish for her organs to be donated. When you love someone, you want to fulfil his or her request.”

He expressed hope that Shelley had created wonderful things for Malaysia.

Mahoney said he hoped Shelley’s gesture would encourage more Malaysians to help each other by pledging to donate their organs.

Asked on why he proceeded to allow the harvesting of Shelley’s organs, he said: “Shelley is not going to come back. If there was any chance of recovery, we’d have fought for her to be kept alive.

“The machine was only keeping her alive for a while, and in Australia, it was accepted that when there was no more hope for a person, we could remove the life support.”

Mahoney said he was pleased that her kidneys were healthy as they led a healthy lifestyle and ate a lot of vegetables and fruits.

His immediate plan is to fly back to Queensland this Monday to bring Shelley’s belongings home, but he is unsure of where his next long distance trip would be.

He had been sailing with Shelley since 2006 to Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia on the yacht that he bought in Australia 40 years ago.

“I have lost my soulmate and I have to consider what to do with the yacht,” he said.

In a press conference earlier yesterday, Mahoney said that Shelley pledged herself to be an organ donor since her early 20s.

”Shelley believes in organ donation so that others have the opportunity to live.

“It is the final gift that you can give. The gift of life.”

Mahoney said that Shelley had three daughters and two sons, while he has a son.

“All the children are organ donors as well,” he said.

Patients get kidneys from Australian killed in boating accident

The star

BY LOH FOON FONG

New lease on life: Khamisah smiling as she is visited by Hospital Kuala Lumpur Nephrology Department head Datuk Dr Ghazali Ahmad, National Transplant Resource Centre head Datin Dr Lela Yasmin Mansor and trainee nurse Ummi Aisyah at the intensive care unit.

KUALA LUMPUR: Australian tourist Shelly Elizabeth Mahoney, who died after she was hit by a boom on her husband’s yacht during a storm near Penang, became Malaysia’s first cardiac death organ donor.

Before the procedure last Friday, Malaysia only took organs from those certified as “brain dead”.

One of Mahoney’s kidneys was harvested and given to end-stage kidney failure patient Khamisah Othman.

Kamsiah had been waiting almost 20 years for a kidney in order to get the transplant.

The operation was carried out at about 10pm on the same day that Mahoney died.

It was completed at 1am the following day.

Kidney donor Mahoney.

The other recipient of Mahoney’s kidney was a 42-year-old housewife in Kedah.

Khamisah, 36, almost gave up hope of ever getting a transplant.

Hailing from Sik, Kedah, she is now finally able to pursue her dream career.

“I’ve always wanted to be a lecturer,” she said at Hospital Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

On how she was feeling post-op, Kamsiah said she felt weak as her red blood cell count was low following the operation.

Khamisah, who tutored students to support herself, said she went on haemodialysis three years after she was diagnosed with kidney failure in 1994. She was in Form 5 then.

She said securing a job was difficult as she had to go for haemodialysis three times a week.

Hospital Kuala Lumpur Nephrology Department head Datuk Dr Ghazali Ahmad said Mahoney’s kidneys were healthy.

“She seemed to have led a healthy lifestyle,” he said.

Khamisah said she, too, would adopt a healthy lifestyle.

“I do not want to be on dialysis anymore,” she said.

‘Papaya leaf juice can help in recovery from dengue fever’

The Star

By LOH FOON FONG

foonfong@thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: Papaya leaf juice has been shown to increase blood platelet count and assist in the recovery of those with lesser complications, health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said.

“The damage from dengue infection could be more than a platelet count issue, such as blood plasma leakage or dengue shock syndrome, where dangerously low blood pressure could occur,” he said.

In April last year, the Evidence-Based Complementary and Alter­native Medicine Volume 2013 (2013), Article ID 61673 published findings showing that the consumption of Carica papaya leaf juice induced rapid increase in platelet count in patients with grade one and two dengue fever and the fatal dengue haemorrhagic fever.

The Institute for Medical Research and the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital, Klang, carried out a randomised controlled trial on 228 patients in the hospital.

Half were administered with 50gm of fresh Carica papaya juice for three consecutive days and the other half received standard management.

There was a significant increase in platelet count among the patients in the experimental group compared to those in the control group.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Dietician Association president Prof Dr Winnie Chee said staying hydrated was crucial for patients with dengue fever.

“Fluid intake should be at frequent intervals to compensate for the loss from sweat and to permit adequate volume of urine for excreting wastes,” she said.

Dr Chee said calorie and protein intake should be increased by as much as 50% of the daily requirement.

“A high calorie diet with frequent feeding should be given as soon as fever is controlled but one should avoid fried and oily foods during fever,” she said.

Easily digested protein such as milk, eggs, fish, poultry and legumes was necessary to replenish loss of tissue proteins during fever, she said.

“As soon as the temperature comes down, readily digestible bland food should be given to the patient for better digestion and rapid absorption,” she said, adding that iron supplements might be necessary for those recovering from dengue haemorrhagic fever.