Petaling Jaya, Feb 7 – Residents of low and medium cost apartments are at higher risk of being infected by dengue fever, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Subramaniam.
He said the problem of maintenance in areas of low and medium cost apartments arose because the management could not function efficiently due to financial constraints, as they depended fully on monthly collection from the residents.
“The collection for maintenance of low and medium cost apartments is not much. Not so comprehensive so much so they (management) do not have adequate funds to maintain the area to the optimum, including destroying Aedes breeding grounds.
“This is in contrast to luxury apartments which do not have any issues relating to maintenance costs as their managements have adequate funds to maintain buildings properly,” he told reporters after visiting the local community at the Mentari Court apartments here today.
Mentari Court is one of the dengue hotspot areas in Selangor with 152 cases recorded in the area from June 17, 2013 until now.
Dr Subramaniam urged all state governments and local authorities to play their respective roles more actively by assisting the management of low and medium cost apartments to ensure that these residences were free from Aedes mosquito breeding grounds, thus, reducing dengue fever cases.
Realising that dengue was one of the big problems that had long been faced not only by Malaysia but also other countries, he said, his ministry was constantly looking for the best method to reduce the infection rate, including biological methods to destroy Aedes mosquitoes.
Meanwhile, in a statement here, he said, 19 fatalities due to dengue fever were reported throughout the country from January to Feb 6 this year, an increase of 137 percent or 11 deaths compared to only eight cases for the same period last year.
During the same period, a total of 10,712 dengue cases were reported nation-wide as compared to 2,836 cases in the same period last year, an increase of 277 percent or 7,876 cases, he said.
The health minister also said between Jan 1 until Jan 18 this year, 859 compounds were issued, amounting to RM429,500 in fines based on inspection of 164,167 premises.
Last year 4,589,577 premises throughout the country were inspected and 15,359 compounds with fines totalling RM7.7 million were issued while 714 premises found to be Aedes mosquito breeding grounds were brought to court.
– Bernama
