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Health exco comes under fire over dengue

SELANGOR STATE ASSEMBLY Sementa assemblyperson Dr Daroyah Alwi, who is the state Health, Welfare, Women and Family Affairs chairperson, came under attack from members of the Selangor state assembly who were not happy with her answers today on the increase in dengue cases in Selangor.

Earlier, Daroyah told the house that as of Aug 8, a total of 41,223 cases of dengue, with 92 deaths, had been reported in Selangor, with the highest in the Petaling district, totalling 17,913 cases.

"We have carried out various efforts to address dengue, like forming an action committee to control dengue, holding meetings, operations at construction sites, destroy dengue breeding grounds, task force, campaign, health education, as well as enforcement of the law to instil awareness among the public," she added.

Not happy with the answer, Rosni Sohar (BN-Hulu Bernam) got up and asked her explain on immediate measures taken by the government to address the problem, and he was supported by other members in the house, including Yeo Bee Yin (DAP-Damansara Utama, photo ) and Rodziah Ismail (PKR-Batu Tiga).

Questioned by Dr Idris Ahmad (PKR-Ijok) on new approaches taken by the state government to address dengue, Daroyah said a biological control method was also used to control the breeding of Aedes mosquito.

Meanwhile, Dr Xavier Jayakumar (PKR-Sri Andalas) suggested that the government forms a special committee, involving all members of the state executive council, to discuss the best approach to address dengue.

Selangor's 'save water' campaigns have failed

On the issue of water, state Infrastructure and Public Utilities, Agriculture Modernisation and Agro-based Industry chairperson Zaidy Abdul Talib admitted that various campaigns held since three years ago to get the public to save on water failed to meet the objective.

Zaidy said that despite the campaigns, statistics showed that an individual in Selangor utilised between  235 and 250 litres of water daily.

If that is the average water usage by an individual daily and the situation continues, it will result in wastage of 880 million litres of water until 2020, he told the state assembly sitting in Shah Alam today.

To address the problem, he said, the state government had held meetings with government agencies to identify suitable campaigns and draw up comprehensive plans.

Zaidy said this in reply to responding to a supplementary question from Yeo Bee Yin (DAP-Damansara Utama), who wanted to know the progress of the save water campaigns of the state government.

To an oral question from Khasim Abdul Aziz (PAS-Lembah Jaya) on measures taken to avoid water supply disruption or rationing, Zaidy said a consultant has been appointed to identify new water sources.

- Bernama

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