By Charles Santiago, Klang MP
It’s something not seen in Malaysia’s history before.
There have been 74,335 dengue cases with 143 deaths as of September last year. In comparison, 21,900 cases were recorded with 35 deaths in 2012. Statistics show 43,346 cases with 92 deaths in 2013.
Clearly, dengue outbreak in Malaysia is fast approaching pandemic and record breaking levels.
The federal government must therefore declare a national emergency and immediately launch a dengue fever emergency control operations, which include international vectors, vector community workers, employment of senior tropical medicine experts and engaging the World Health Organisation (WHO) to undertake disease surveillance and outbreak investigations.
This effort would also need active collaboration of federal and state agencies such as district health departments and district health networks plus NGOs to control the dengue outbreak and prevent epidemics.
It has been reported that both government and private hospitals do not have enough beds to accommodate patients. It’s therefore extremely crucial to ensure that there is adequate supply of essential materials including hospital beds, drugs, rapid diagnostic tests and preventive materials.
The Federal government, through state health authorities, should also make more allocation for regular fogging to be carried out in dengue hotspots as well as periodic fogging to prevent dengue in other areas. And hefty fines should be meted out to those who are found to be creating a ‘breeding haven’ for Aedes mosquitoes.
The past one year, unfortunately, has brought the worst out of Malaysia, in terms of its disaster management capabilities.
The government seems to have failed to learn from dengue outbreaks in the recent past, costing many lives in the process.
The dengue virus is real and is taking lives.
At a minimum of 426 cases a day this year, the threat cannot be taken lightly.
One person is dying every day, with the casualties already at 44 as of mid-February this year.
Additionally, the Selangor government despite all its efforts is unable to contain the crisis, with 57% of the total cases taking place in the state.
Selangor is the worst affected state with 10,000 cases compared with 2020 cases in Perak, 1024 in Johor and 923 in Kuala Lumpur.
The Selangor state government must prioritize combating dengue in the state exco meeting ahead of other policy matters at least until the epidemic shows improvement. This will include directing all local councils including relevant Federal and state agencies to take proactive measures like eradicating Aedes mosquito breeding sites and regular inspections of potential mosquito breeding sites.
The Federal government should allocate more financial resource towards effective dengue combating programs.
All districts, through the local councils, should have in place an emergency intervention unit to focus principally on combating the dengue outbreak and see to it that industrial areas keep up to a proper standard in environmental cleanliness.
State health authorities should also allocate adequate number of healthcare workers to attend to the healthcare needs of dengue victims. If possible, a dedicated dengue epidemic directorate should be formed under the purview of state health department to monitor the dengue situation while trying to identify the dengue hotspot areas.
Equally important in tackling the dengue virus is for both the Federal and State government to embark upon a public education programme, using the local councils including social media. People have to be made aware that if we go on with our usual habits, dengue cases would continue to escalate.
The past one year has displayed very clearly that Malaysia as a nation has been caught flat-footed when faced with a crisis. Let’s not add deaths as a result of dengue to that list. -The Rocket
