Health officials rapped for inaccurate

NST: Kelantan health officials were criticised today for wrongly blaming two deaths on Japanese Encephalitis (JE).
Health director-general Datuk Dr Ismail Merican said they had been hasty when the deaths were actually due to dengue complications and bacterial meningitis.
He said the officials should have known better than to give incomplete information to the media as blood tests for pathogens had to be carried out over a period of time before an accurate diagnosis could be obtained.
"A single test is insufficient. The tests at the Institute of Medical Research (IMR) take time.
"There are nine tests, including for JE, the Nipah virus and dengue.
"The point in time at which you draw blood to do a test also affects the result.
"Hence, testing must be done repeatedly," Dr Ismail told a Press conference here today.
He said the media attributed the two deaths to JE based on what officials had told them.
"If information is inconclusive, don't give it out. If the wrong information sees print and we try to correct it, we are accused of a cover-up."
He urged the officials to learn from the episode.
On the deaths, he said Siti Mardiana Mohamad Ramli, 13, who died on Jan 30, had tested negative for JE.
"The cause of death was viral encephalitis.
"It is also likely that she had dengue as her father subsequently contracted it but is recovering," he said.
Hasnirah Akmar Hussein, 31, diagnosed as a dengue victim, died on Jan 31. She also had acute bacterial meningitis (inflammation of the brain).