APATHY TO CLEANLINESS CITED FOR TOLL ON HEALTH

By Sakini Mohd Said and Norfarhana Ahya Arip

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 18 (Bernama) -- The higher dengue death toll and the emergence
of leptospirosis this year brought to the fore the apathy of Malaysians to
personal hygiene and cleanliness in their home and surroundings.

Dengue, caused by a virus spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, claimed 128
lives this year, up from the 78 recorded in 2009. Selangor registered 15,520
cases with 43 deaths -- the highest among states.

Leptospirosis, caused by a virus present in water contaminated with rat urine,
killed 10 people.

Reports by the health authorities on the two diseases cited general
impassiveness of the people towards cleanliness of their surroundings as a cause for
their spread.

Leptospirosis struck in July when it claimed the lives of eight people in a team
of rescuers which had waded into the Lubuk Yu recreation park in Maran, in east
coast state of Pahang, looking for a missing youth who was found drowned there.
The park was then closed for a clean-up process.

In August, two more deaths from the disease were detected in northern state of
Kedah. One of the individuals was a 17-year-old boy who had bathed at the Puncak
Janing recreation area in Kuala Nerang and the other a staff of the Penang
Health Department who had picnicked at the Lata Bayu picnic site in Baling.

Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai said that up to August, 1,400 cases of
leptospirosis had been detected and that the number was big.

The Health Ministry subsequently categorised leptospirosis as a notifiable
disease and ordered an awareness campaign by the district health offices in the
country.

As for dengue, district-level committees were set up in 33 areas nationwide and
the penalty for allowing the Aedes mosquito to breed was raised five-fold to
RM500. (US$1=RM3.13)

Field experiments with the use of transgenic mosquitoes to control the Aedes
mosquito population are expected to be conducted this month in Bentong, in
Pahang, and Alor Gajah, in southern state of Melaka.

Liow also said that though the World Health Organisation (WHO) had declared the
Influenza A (H1N1) pandemic over, Malaysia would continue to be wary of the
disease.

Since the outbreak last year, the disease has claimed the lives of 92 people in
the country. A total of 15,584 people were confirmed as H1N1 positive.

The health minister welcomed the announcement by Prime Minister Najib Razak on
transforming healthcare under the 10th Malaysia Plan (2011-2015).

Projects to be carried out in the first half of the plan period include the
construction of 197 new clinics in the rural areas, 50 more 1Malaysia clinics in
poor urban areas and four new hospitals, one of which will be the National
Cancer Institute.

Meanwhile, in an effort to raise the standard of the health service, the
government offered various incentives to health and medical personnel. It has
halved the period, from 20 to 10 years, for automatic promotion of medical
officers to the highest U54 salary scale.

Efforts have also been taken to recruit more doctors from abroad, including
Egypt and Pakistan, to serve on contract in government hospitals.

The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Kuala Lumpur Hospital got a boost when
Najib announced an allocation of RM5 million to improve the service at the ward.

The prime minister had spent four days at the ward after he was diagnosed with
chicken pox at the end of October.

Following his experience of being indisposed, Najib advised the people not to
take personal health for granted and to practise healthy living.
-- BERNAMA



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