Call on Chua Jui Meng to launch an
immediate high-impact media campaign to create instant nation-wide alert
and awareness of the virulent dengue outbreak to stop any more loss of human
lives, especially children who have suffered the most fatalities as compared
to previous years
Media Statement
by Lim Kit Siang
(Penang, Sunday):
DAP calls on the Health Minister, Datuk Chua Jui Meng to launch an immediate
high-impact media campaign to create instant nation-wide alert and awareness
of the virulent dengue outbreak to stop the loss of any more loss of human
lives, especially children who have suffered the most fatalities as compared
to previous years, and to ensure that 2002 does not become the worst year in
the nation's history with the most number of reported dengue cases and the
highest case-fatality rate (CFR).
Chua had said on Friday that there had been a rise in the number of cases of
dengue fever, with a noticeable increase in the number reported last year
compared with 1999 and 2000, and that the number continued its upward trend
this year.
However, he failed to release any figures about the number of dengue cases
and deaths this year to impress on the people about the gravity of the
current virulent dengue outbreak, and most inexplicably, he went on to
claim that the situation was under control when the outbreak was so
serious that it had to be brought to the attention of the Cabinet recently.
The medical authorities should not trifle with human lives and must adopt
the attitude that another death from the dengue outbreak is completely
unacceptable and one too many.
The government must seek full public co-operation to devise a proper
response to the virulent dengue outbreak to save lives, not only by ensuring
full public awareness so that immediate medical help is sought in cases of
fever (with or without rash) - which could mean a matter of life and death
for children but also effective vector control programmes involving
individual households and communities to regularly inspect and destroy Aedes
mosquito breeding places in and around their own houses as well as in
nearby construction sites, vacant lots and other unoccupied areas where
garbage tend to accumulate.
Nanyang Siang Pau today commendably carried a front-page headline report to
highlight the seriousness of the virulent dengue outbreak, but I am shocked
that it had not been able to get the full co-operation from the Health
Ministry to give the people a full and accurate picture of the serious
dengue outbreak.
The Nanyang Siang Pao front-page headlined 13,000 dengue cases and some 40
deaths for the year to date, stating that the dengue outbreak has almost
reached the level of the worst year for dengue outbreak in 1998, alleging
that there are now 13,232 cases which is near the number of 13,742 dengue
cases in 1998.
In an inside page, Nanyang Siang Pau carried the following table of
statistics for the number of dengue cases in the past 10 years::
Year No of Dengue Cases
2001 7,110
2000 3,723
1999 4,718
1998 13,742
1997 7,938
1996 6,058
1995 5,212
1994 2,246
1993 3,514
1992 2,777
1991 3,070
These figures are completely different from
those given by the World Health Organisation and available on the Internet
for "Dengue fever/dengue haemorrhagic fever cases and deaths" for Malaysia
from 1991 to 2000 as follows:
Year No. of cases Deaths
1991 6,628 39
1992 5,473 24
1993 5,615 23
1994 3,133 13
1995 6,543 28
1996 14,255 30
1997 19,544 50
1998 27,379 58
1999 10,008 -
2000 7,118 37
The most glaring difference is that the number of dengue cases reported in
Malaysia in 1998 given by WHO was 27,379 and not 13,742 given by Nanyang
Siang Pau.
The Health Ministry should explain why it is not prepared to co-operate
fully with the media to give all the relevant data to create full public
awareness about the danger of the current dengue outbreak.
There are serious indications that the number of cases and deaths from
dengue fever and dengue haemorrhagic fever in the current outbreak might
match and even exceed those of 1998 as given by WHO, making 2002 the
nation's worst year in dengue outbreak.
As the Health Ministry has failed to make regular releases of dengue cases
and deaths, we can only depend on the various reports in the mass media to
get a picture of the outbreak.
The Star reported on 22nd July 2002 that 11 people had been killed in the
first six months of the year in the dengue outbreak, which occurred in
northern Perak, central Selangor and southern Negri Sembilan states, with
Perak reporting a total of 1,089 cases and Selangor 1,222.
In the first seven months of the year, the total number of dengue cases
nationwide totalled 12,992 cases (as compared to 8,848 for the same period
for 2001), with Selangor topping the list with 4,148 cases, Kuala Lumpur
3,158 cases, Perak 1,353 cases, Penang 547 cases, Terengganu 490 cases and
Kedah 465 cases.
In the middle of September this year, New Straits Times reported the
"alarming surge" in dengue fever figures, with a total of 17,341 cases and
34 deaths reported from January to the end of August, with Selangor topping
the list of number of cases at 5,000 followed by Kuala Lumpur with 4,094,
with northern Perak, north-eastern Kelantan and southern Johore classified
as high-risk.
The Star of 12th October 2002 reported three deaths from dengue in the week
between Sept. 29 and Oct. 5, raising the total fatalities in the state to 10
this year as compared to three for the whole of last year. The total
number of dengue cases reported for Selangor for the year ending on Oct. 5
was 5,986 cases.
Nanyang Siang :Pau today reported that as of November 3, there had been
7,075 dengue cases in Selangor and 12 deaths.
From these various reports, we get the following picture of the
increasing severity of the ballooning crisis in the dengue outbreak for
the state of Selangor:
End of June - 1,222 cases
End of July - 4,148 cases
End of August - 5,000 cases
5th October - 5,986 cases
5th November - 7,075 cases
As the total number of
dengue cases stood at 13,000 in the first seven months of the year, at the
rate of Selangor's 70% increase of dengue cases in the three months from
August to October, 2002 could be an even worse year for dengue outbreak
than 1998, both in the number of cases as well as
deaths.
What is most worrying are reports from paediatricias that the fatalities
of children from the new and more virulent dengue strain, Dengue 3, are
higher than previous years. I will ask for a meeting with the Health
Minister, Datuk Chua Jui Meng, to find out why the Health Ministry is
adopting such a laid-back attitude when it should have launched a full-scale
media campaign to alert all Malaysians about the seriousness of the dengue
outbreak.
(15/12/2002)
*
Lim Kit Siang, DAP National
Chairman
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http://dapmalaysia.org