PASIR GUDANG: A total of 73 patients have been discharged from Sultanah Aminah Hospital (HSA) and Sultan Ismail Hospital (HSI) following the March 7 chemical dumping incident in Sungai Kim Kim here.
State Health, Environment and Agriculture Committee chairman Dr Sahruddin Jamal said as of midnight on Tuesday (March 19), the state Health Department had also recorded 22 new patients receiving treatment at hospitals while two patients were still being treated at intensive care units (ICU).
Dr Sahruddin said the closure notice for all 111 schools in the Pasir Gudang district since last Thursday (March 14) would continue to be in effect until further notice.
"Based on Education Minister Dr Mazlee Malik's statement, the schools will only be opened when the ministry decides to," he said.
In addition to the 111 schools, a total of 92 kindergartens and childcare centres in Pasir Gudang, Tebrau and Tenggara were also closed.
Dr Sahruddin said some 30 personnel from the Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Ministry had been continuously monitoring air quality in the affected areas.
"The monitoring was conducted at 12pm, 3pm and 6pm on March 17 by the Environment Department (DOE) and the Johor Chemistry Department at 42 schools within Pasir Gudang.
"The overall reports showed that volatile organic compound (VOC) reading is at 0% except at SK Taman Rinting 3," he said, adding that no hydrogen sulfide (H2S) was detected at any of the schools.
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