Solve garbage problem within a month, Selangor authorities told

PETALING JAYA: The Selangor state and local authorities have been asked to solve the garbage management problem in the Petaling and Hulu Langat districts within a month.

They are to present updates on the garbage management situation to the national task force meeting on dengue next month, said Health director-general Datuk Seri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

“From Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam’s visits to Kampung Sungai Kayu Ara and Taman Taming Jaya flats, the issue of garbage in Selangor was not managed well.

“Too many piles of garbage were uncollected while the surroundings are dirty,” he said in a press statement posted on www.kpkesihatan.com yesterday.

Dr Noor Hisham said the services provided were not enough for the community – for instance, only three garbage bins were provided for four blocks of flats.

The garbage management was still being implemented in stages in Petaling and Hulu Langat districts, he said.

Local authorities were also asked to take dengue preventive measures in view of ­traders selling their food and wares into the night during Ramadan.

“They must carry out larvaciding and preventive fogging in public places. They must also ensure that rubbish are collected and the surrounding area cleaned up,” he said.

From June 28 to July 4, a total of 2,832 dengue cases were reported nationwide compared with 2,710 cases the week before, which is a 5% increase.

From January to July 4, a total of 59,365 cases had been reported compared with 44,518 cases for the same period last year, an increase of 14,847 or 4%.

There were 165 dengue deaths in total, almost double the number (85) in the same period last year. The top three states with the highest number of dengue cases were Selangor (726), followed by Johor (217) and Perak (52).

Local authorities to be penalised in anti-dengue op

the star

BY LOH FOON FONG

PETALING JAYA: In an unprecedented move to battle the dengue scourge, the Health Ministry will fine local authorities if they fail to clean up areas under their care.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subra­maniam said that the ministry would penalise the local authorities under the Destruction of Disease Bearing Insect Act 1975 if their areas were found to be breeding mosquitoes.

“If we find the absence of action by the local authorities contributed to breeding of mosquitoes, our ­ministry will take action against them,” he said during a spot check in Kampung Sungai Kayu Ara here yesterday.

Dr Subramaniam said the ministry would not hesitate to act against the local authorities if they conti­nued to turn a blind eye to cleanliness issues.

Deputy health director-general Datuk Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman said no fines had been imposed against errant government departments until now.

From January to June 20, Kampung Sungai Kayu Ara, which covers a 162ha area, made up of mainly flats, condominiums, residential areas and squatter areas, had reported 288 dengue cases with two deaths.

Pointing to the sites where people had dumped rubbish, including the river, Dr Subramaniam said the local authorities had not done well in garbage collection.

“Whatever measures we take will not succeed if the local authorities and residents do not take this seriously and change their attitude,” he said.

A resident in Jalan Cempaka, Husin Chea, 56, said garbage bins provided by the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) were not enough and garbage collection was not frequent enough although it was done regularly.

He said the presence of many foreigners in the area also added to the bulk of the garbage, adding that outsiders were also throwing rubbish into their neighbourhood.

More needs to be done in Kayu Ara

PETALING JAYA: The Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) has admitted that work needs to be done in Kampung Sungai Kayu Ara although the garbage situation has improved in the last two years following efforts to clean up the area.

MBPJ Solid Waste Manage­ment Department director Lee Lih Shyan said they had placed six huge garbage bins along Jalan Cempaka for the community there.

Although it was adequate according to the number of residents, he said illegal dumping of waste by outsiders posed a challenge.

“We are in the midst of solving the problem as we discovered it last year and we are doing our best to solve the issue,” he said, adding that the contractor had been collecting the bulk garbage three times a week.

Lee said this following Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subra­maniam’s comment that the local authorities had failed to address the garbage problem in Kampung Sungai Kayu Ara.

Dr Subramaniam said he would do spot checks once every two weeks in areas with high dengue cases in the country.

Lee also said that vacant idle land and illegal recycling activities also posed a challenge to the garbage issue there.

He said traders tended to leave their garbage indiscriminately after sorting out and taking only things they wanted.

Health Ministry to penalise local authorities indifferent to dengue menace

the star
BY LOH FOON FONG

PETALING JAYA: In an unprecedented move to battle the dengue scourge, the Health Ministry has warned local authorities that it would fine them if they fail to buck up and clean up areas under their care.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said the Ministry would not hesitate to fine them under the Destruction of Disease Bearing Insect Act 1975 if their localities were found to be breeding mosquitoes.

"If we find that the absence of action on the part of the local authorities has contributed to breeding of mosquitoes, our Ministry, if we have evidence, we will take action against them," he said.

Dr Subramaniam said this during a spot check at Kampung Sungai Kayu Ara here Friday morning.

Under the Act, owners of premises found breeding mosquitoes could be issued a compound of up to RM500 or charged in court, said deputy health director-general Datuk Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman.

First-time offenders can be fine not more than RM10,000 or jailed for not more than two years while repeat offenders can be fined RM50,000, jailed two years or both.

He said such action had never been taken against other Government departments, including schools, until now.

Dr Subramaniam said the Ministry would not hesitate to move in this direction due to the severity of the situation.

He said this when asked the action that the Ministry would take if local authorities do not clean up their backyard, as many such instances had been highlighted by the press.

"For now, I am asking the state health director to give updates and show pictures of problematic sites to state authorities and asked them what action the authorities will take," he said.

Don: Rope in university students to tackle dengue

PETALING JAYA: With the dengue threat continuing unabated, a health expert has suggested that the brains of university students be picked on how best to counter the menace.

Universiti Malaya virologist Prof Dr Sazaly Abu Bakar wants a competition held in universities to come up with ideas on how to reduce dengue infections.

Backing the decision of the national dengue task force in getting universities to “adopt” nearby dengue hotspots, Dr Sazaly said such a competition would help in the search for a solution.

“But there must be clear targets on what is needed,” he added.

On Wednesday, the taskforce, made up of several ministries and agencies, announced that it would work with the Education Ministry to get 27 public and private higher education institutions involved in the fight against dengue.

Dr Sazaly said university students and staff should be guided on how to protect themselves from the Aedes mosquitoes.

He also said many Malaysians were still “uneducated” on rubbish disposal and that the students could help overcome this.

“Malaysians often think that it’s the Government’s job to keep places clean. This mindset has to go,” he added.

Dr Sazaly said getting local councils to fumigate areas was not enough. “We must do more.”

Climate change raises dengue risk

The Star
BY LOH FOON FONG

PETALING JAYA: Half of the world’s seven billion people will be at risk of getting dengue if minimum temperatures in certain regions continue to rise, warned the first ever global mapping report on dengue vulnerability.

According to Mapping Global Vulnerability to Dengue using the Water Associated Disease Index, while South-East Asia and South Asia already faced the highest levels of vulnerability to dengue, western and central Africa, as well as parts of Europe and the mountainous regions of South America would be affected if minimum temperatures there continue to rise.

“The increase due to climate change alone would more than double the number of those at risk to an estimated 3.5 billion,” said the report published by the United Nations University’s Canadian-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health (Unu-Inweh) on the university’s website yesterday.

Vulnerability in this case is determined by exposure and susceptibility, the latter influenced by access to healthcare, clean water, decent housing, dengue control measures and government policies.

Aedes mosquito eggs are rendered non-viable at temperatures below -2°C. But should minimum temperatures rise by a few degrees, the eggs could survive, putting large populations at risk of exposure to the mosquito.

While the authors noted that a rise in temperatures could make the environment too hot for mosquitoes in some places, overall warmer climates were expected to facilitate the spread of dengue both northwards and southwards of the equator.

The report also noted that Brazil reported the largest number of dengue cases – about 450,000 from 2004 to 2010.

It also listed Indonesia, Vietnam, Mexico, Venezuela, Thailand, the Philippines, Colombia, Malaysia and Honduras as among the top 10 countries where dengue is endemic.

“Climate change is increasing dengue vulnerability in some regions and there is a pressing need for improved waste management and sanitation in urban areas as part of a wider public health response,” said Dr Anthony Capon, director of Unu’s Malaysia-based International Institute for Global Health at the UKM Medical Centre in Kuala Lumpur.

Close to 400 million people today are infected by the virus, causing between 250,000 and 500,000 severe cases annually and some 20,000 deaths.

'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.