Parents, teachers blamed for situation

NST: Parents and teachers are to blame for the continuing outbreak of the hand, foot and mouth disease in Sarawak.
Director-general of Health Datuk Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said besides not paying attention to cleanliness, failure to adhere to the ministry’s advice to keep the children home led to the current situation in the State.
"We had advised them to stay at home and not to expose their children to public places. But this was not adhered to."
He added kindergartens were directed to shut down temporarily if more than two pupils contracted the disease.
Meanwhile, in Kuching, 259 new cases of suspected hand, foot and mouth disease in Sarawak were reported within the last 24 hours.
This brings the total number to 4,573 since the outbreak began early this year.
Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan, in updating reporters today, said 86 of the new cases were from Miri while Bintulu and Kuching had 42 cases each, Mukah 40 and Sibu 39.
"The big jump could be due to more parents bringing their sick children for treatment on Monday and this morning instead of Sunday when we had less number of cases registered," he said.
Dr Chan, who is also State disaster and relief management committee chairman, said 90 patients were still hospitalised, including 41 new admissions, as of this morning.