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Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Blame games and lame excuses on the dengue menace

We live in a garbage dump and it's time to take a holistic view of cleanliness and hygiene.
COMMENT
by Chua Tong Ka
denggi300I read with consternation the statement by Health Minister Dr. S. Subramaniam and the subsequent response by Selangor state exco Teng Chang Khim on the dengue outbreak in Malaysia.
It was wrong of the Health Minister to criticise Selangor for having the highest number of dengue cases and it was equally wrong of Teng to offer lame excuses as to why this was so.
To begin with, why blame and criticise each other when we are a nation of filth? Uncollected garbage, clogged drains, haphazard development, disorderly hawker centres and stagnant rivers and ponds are present all over the country.
Does anyone disagree with this?
Of course Selangor records the highest number of dengue cases. What else can you expect when Selangor’s pace of development, population size and density are also the highest in the country?
Why did the Health Minister single out Selangor? To me, the primary reason is that Selangor is a Pakatan-led state, hence a political enemy and a convenient target to lay blame on.
Dr. Subramaniam’s responsibility as Health Minister extends to the whole country. It should not make a difference to him whether the number of dengue cases is highest in Selangor or Perak or Johor.
Is it not the minister’s job to cooperate with all the states to ensure the whole country is free from vector borne diseases?
In his response to the Health Minister, Teng said the state had instituted measures to destroy mosquito breeding grounds and stepped up enforcement by checking for breeding grounds. In addition to these, numerous awareness campaigns have been carried out.
However what was most infuriating was Teng’s claim that the dengue outbreak was a worldwide phenomenon and not limited to Malaysia.
I used to think Pakatan politicians could think and had more comprehensive solutions to offer.
As concerned Malaysians, we are not interested in how many meetings you conducted, how many checks you did or how much money you spent to control dengue.
This merely lists your input. We are interested in the output or outcome. How effective have your measures been?
Teng can give his list of the measures taken but the fact remains that the number of dengue cases in Selangor has escalated and more people are now suffering from the disease.
Why were the measures ineffective? Or are we to assume that the measures were not carried out by Teng’s state machinery as he believes?
Malaysian leaders used to react to complaints about inflation by saying it was a worldwide problem. Now dengue has become a global phenomenon.
These are all lame excuses.
It is frustrating that our politicians either blame one party for problems that crop up or give lame excuses in response to criticism.
It is about time we took a more holistic view of issues like cleanliness and hygiene in this country.
It is about time we destroyed the breeding grounds of mosquitoes, lizards, rats, cockroaches, flies and other pests.
The marques we drive on the road and the opulent homes we own mean nothing if the environment we live in is a garbage dump.

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