Friday March 20, 2009

BUKIT GANTANG: Dengue cases and deaths increased significantly in the first three months of the year compared with the same period last year due to the rainy spell.

Thirty-three people out of 12,179 cases have died from Jan 1 to March 16. There were 8,212 cases with 14 deaths in the period last year.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the rainy season and dirty housing areas were the main reasons for the rise in dengue cases.

He said there were 1,068 cases this year compared with 946 last year in Perak, which has the second highest number of cases after Selangor.

“It’s also partly the apathetic attitude of the people of not taking care of the cleanliness of their homes,” he told reporters after visiting the Changkat Jering health clinic yesterday.

“Continuous efforts to educate the people and campaigns to eradicate dengue fever are on-going nationwide,” he said, adding that the ministry has spent about RM10mil in campaigns to combat dengue and other diseases.

On another matter, Liow said the ministry had approved RM60mil to build a maternity and childcare centre and cardiology unit at the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital in Ipoh.

He said the facilities would be operational in three years’ time.

He said the cardiology unit would only be equipped with angiogram services and not bypass and open-heart surgery facilities.

On the Bukit Gantang by-elections, Liow said the MCA had made preparations and would go all out to ensure a victory for Barisan Nasional.

“We have met the grassroots in new villages to thrash out their problems,” he said, adding that most of their problems have been solved.

He said the party was more focused in solving the people’s predicament and attending to young voters to get their support.

Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/3/20/nation/3517184&sec=nation