Authorities must act fast in fighting dengue

I REFER to the comments made by Deputy Health Minister Dr Lee Boon Chye in Parliament on the sharp rise in the number of dengue cases in Malaysia, “Lee: We are reviewing fine on firms breeding mosquitoes” (The Star, Dec 3). He noted that the sharp rise in dengue cases was not confined to Malaysia but also affected neighbouring countries such as Singapore, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, China, and Taiwan, where the number of cases had increased by between one and eight-fold.Malaysians must be sick and tired of government officials dishing out statistics and more statistics on dengue infections and how we are either better off or no worse off than neighbouring countries. What is the purpose of such information? What we want to know is what steps the government is taking to tackle the spread of this disease.

I personally have had two miserable experiences with the local authority when I reported the excessive presence of mosquitoes in my neighbourhood. The first time was a few years ago when I lodged a report about the drains in the back alleys of my housing area which were not cleaned regularly and were clogged with water. I even took photos and went personally to the local authority’s office to report the problem, but no action was taken. Meanwhile, I landed up in hospital with dengue.