Council blamed for dengue outbreak
LAWAS: Residents here are blaming the local council for the recent outbreak of dengue.
As of the middle of this week, 37 cases have already been reported for this year, surpassing the total of 35 cases last year.
Although a medical team has arrived from Kuching, locals are complaining that little action has been taken to remedy the situation.
S a r awa k P r o g r e s s i v e Democratic Party ( SPDP) Bukit Sari chairman Councillor Yong Kah Sing, who is also Lawas Hospital Board chairman, said the local business community is disappointed with the lack of concerted efforts to deal with the situation.
“You can see that all the drains in the town area have not been cleaned for years whi le the assessment rate has been collected without fail, and this is not right,” he said.
Sarawak United People’s Party ( SUPP) Lawas chief Councillor
You can see that all the drains in the town area have not been cleaned for years while the assessment rate has been collected without fail, and this is not right. Councillor Yong Kah Sing, Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) Bukit Sari chairman
Liaw Ho Peng also lamented the lack of priority given to public health concerns.
“Well we have achieved ISO. But from the dengue outbreak, if this continues, then we will not be able to carry out our business activities as the people would be afraid to come to Lawas,” he said.
“There should be no sweeping under the carpet and there should be transparency from the authorities.”
Resident Datin Dina Singa complained that it took the local council two years to finally clean the drains in her housing area of Taman Muhibbah, which has been labelled a dengue black spot by the authorities.
“We want the authorit ies to be consistent in drainage maintenance, and not adopt an ad hoc approach by the management in the council as officers must come down to the ground and not just sit in the office and rely on their ground staff,” she stressed.
She complained t hat t he commitment and focus of the council has deviated from being people- oriented, and that the quality of services provided has fallen below par.
Meanwhile, Lawas Assistant District Officer Abdul Samat Mohd Sharif said all government agencies in Lawas have been instructed to clean drains under their respective jurisdictions.
“We don’t want to see fingerpointing and fault-finding later if there are any untoward denguerelated deaths,” he said.
He said Health Department r epre s entat ives f rom the headquarters in Kuching will meet here.
“Whatever is decided in the meeting should be made known to the public as modern day public no longer accepts a lack of transparency as they do not panic easily and are willing to help if they are duly informed of the real situation,” he added.