No water-borne diseases reported on Pangkor Island, says Perak exco member

IPOH: There is no outbreak of any water-borne disease on Pulau Pangkor, says Perak health committee chairman A. Sivanesan.

He said a message circulating on social media claiming people are falling ill due to leptospirosis or contaminated water sourced from the Perak Water Board (LAP) was untrue.

"There has been no report of any outbreak or cluster of any incidents related to food poisoning, leptospirosis or related diseases from the Pangkor health clinic or Seri Manjung Hospital in the past two weeks.

"Routine in situ water sampling of water supplied by the LAP at the island conducted between Jan 22 and 28 did not find any irregularities," he said.

"A check with the Manjung LAP also found no contamination of water provided to the island from the Teluk Kepayang processing plant," he added.

Sivanesan said health authorities would continue to monitor the situation.

"We will tighten surveillance on any food or water-borne diseases and acute gastroenteritis incidents.

"All clinics, especially at Pangkor and the Health Ministry's Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, are prepared to track and control any diseases in Manjung," he said.

Sivanesan said he had also personally checked with a resort operator on the island, who had received calls inquiring about the matter.

"I advise all resort operators to boil the water before using it," he added.