Dept: Parents taking it easy despite dengue perils

KUALA TERENGGANU: All the awareness programmes and reminders on the dangers of dengue and the need for parents to get their family members checked at the slightest symptoms have mostly fallen on deaf ears.

State Health Department director Dr Mohammad Omar said he was dumbfounded as to why parents were still ignoring and waited for the last minute in getting their children checked and treated.

He said the state saw its seventh dengue death on Thursday involving a Year Two student from Jalan Masjid, Batu Burok.

This is the fourth death involving a school student this year.

“She was brought to the hospital after she was said to be vomiting and having fever for three days.

“What were they waiting for?

“We have told everyone that they should bring in anyone with the slightest symptoms,” he told reporters after a gotong-royong event.

He said the majority of the dengue deaths were due to patients going into shock following internal bleeding.

Dr Mohammad said parents and the public should not take dengue lightly as it could result in deaths.

He said early detection could save lives, adding that hospitals and health clinics had started giving out home monitoring cards where guidelines were specifically spelled out.

The state, he added, recorded 776 cases with 37 dengue localities and three hotspots in January this year.

There were 1,450 cases in the state for the whole of last year.