ID :
65522
Fri, 06/12/2009 - 17:32
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/65522
The shortlink copeid
HEALTH MINISTRY STEPS UP MEASURES TO TACKLE PANDEMIC FLU
PUTRAJAYA, June 12 (Bernama) -- The Health Ministry is to step up surveillance, preventive and control measures now that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared Influenza A (H1N1) a pandemic, Director-General of Health Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said Friday.
The ministry would be guided by the National Influenza Pandemic Preparedness
Plan (NIPPP) drawn up in 2005, he said, adding that since that year the ministry
had made preparations which included training and stockpiling of medicine and
personal protective equipment.
He said that besides continuing with the existing preventive measures, the
ministry would also inform clinics and private and government hospitals to
identify those with influenza symptoms and determine whether they had just
returned from abroad or had come into contact with those who had returned from
abroad recently.
The ministry would get the community and doctors to alert the health
authorities if they came across an outbreak in their locality.
"For instance, if one clinic says they have 50 patients with a flu-like
illness -- if they have this kind of pattern -- they have to alert us so that we
can conduct further investigation," he told reporters here.
Dr Mohd Ismail said the ministry would get the assistance of the National
Security Council and reactivate the National Inter-Ministerial Committee chaired
by Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.
He said social distancing strategies, which included closing schools and
institutions and cancelling assemblies or public gatherings, would also be
effected, but only if it was found that the flu was circulating in the country.
So far, he said, there had been no case of the disease spreading locally as
the 11 reported cases were imported ones.
Dr Mohd Ismail said the ministry would seek the cooperation of the local
authorities to undertake more regular checks of toilets in public places such as
community halls and shopping complexes to ensure cleanliness and prevent
infection.
He said cooperation from the Information, Communication and Culture Ministry
was also needed for more regular dissemination of information on ways to prevent
an epidemic.
He said the public also needed to play a role in maintaining good hygiene,
including using masks in public places if they had symptoms of flu and to always
wash their hands with soap and water, as a way of preventing the spread of the
disease.
Dr Mohd Ismail said the ministry had requested the cooperation of airlines
to ensure that passengers completed the health declaration forms so as to detect
cases of the flu.
On the current situation, he said no new cases had been reported while seven
of the 11 cases had been treated and the patients discharged from hospital while
the remaining four cases were still under treatment.
He also said that the ministry had received 32 notifications on cases with
influenza-like symptoms among those who returned to Malaysia and, of that
number, 23 were found to be negative while nine were still waiting for the test
results.
"Over the last 24 hours, 46 confirmed contact cases have completed their
quarantine and 111 new contact cases have been detected, bringing the total
number of those under house quarantine to 243, and all of them are healthy," he
said.
Dr Mohd Ismail said WHO had informed that there were 28,820 cases with 144
deaths globally as of yesterday, an increase of 996 cases and three deaths from
the previous day.
In northern city of ALOR SETAR, Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai advised the
people not to panic because the government was clear about what it had to do and
that the disease was not circulating within the community.
-- BERNAMA
The ministry would be guided by the National Influenza Pandemic Preparedness
Plan (NIPPP) drawn up in 2005, he said, adding that since that year the ministry
had made preparations which included training and stockpiling of medicine and
personal protective equipment.
He said that besides continuing with the existing preventive measures, the
ministry would also inform clinics and private and government hospitals to
identify those with influenza symptoms and determine whether they had just
returned from abroad or had come into contact with those who had returned from
abroad recently.
The ministry would get the community and doctors to alert the health
authorities if they came across an outbreak in their locality.
"For instance, if one clinic says they have 50 patients with a flu-like
illness -- if they have this kind of pattern -- they have to alert us so that we
can conduct further investigation," he told reporters here.
Dr Mohd Ismail said the ministry would get the assistance of the National
Security Council and reactivate the National Inter-Ministerial Committee chaired
by Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.
He said social distancing strategies, which included closing schools and
institutions and cancelling assemblies or public gatherings, would also be
effected, but only if it was found that the flu was circulating in the country.
So far, he said, there had been no case of the disease spreading locally as
the 11 reported cases were imported ones.
Dr Mohd Ismail said the ministry would seek the cooperation of the local
authorities to undertake more regular checks of toilets in public places such as
community halls and shopping complexes to ensure cleanliness and prevent
infection.
He said cooperation from the Information, Communication and Culture Ministry
was also needed for more regular dissemination of information on ways to prevent
an epidemic.
He said the public also needed to play a role in maintaining good hygiene,
including using masks in public places if they had symptoms of flu and to always
wash their hands with soap and water, as a way of preventing the spread of the
disease.
Dr Mohd Ismail said the ministry had requested the cooperation of airlines
to ensure that passengers completed the health declaration forms so as to detect
cases of the flu.
On the current situation, he said no new cases had been reported while seven
of the 11 cases had been treated and the patients discharged from hospital while
the remaining four cases were still under treatment.
He also said that the ministry had received 32 notifications on cases with
influenza-like symptoms among those who returned to Malaysia and, of that
number, 23 were found to be negative while nine were still waiting for the test
results.
"Over the last 24 hours, 46 confirmed contact cases have completed their
quarantine and 111 new contact cases have been detected, bringing the total
number of those under house quarantine to 243, and all of them are healthy," he
said.
Dr Mohd Ismail said WHO had informed that there were 28,820 cases with 144
deaths globally as of yesterday, an increase of 996 cases and three deaths from
the previous day.
In northern city of ALOR SETAR, Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai advised the
people not to panic because the government was clear about what it had to do and
that the disease was not circulating within the community.
-- BERNAMA
