Illegals Blamed For Rise In Contagious Diseases

PENANG, Aug 26 (Bernama) -- Illegal immigrants have been cited as the cause for the rise in malaria, polio and tuberculosis cases in the country.
"The illegal immigrants are spreading contagious diseases in Malaysia," said Health Ministry Parliamentary Secretary Datuk Lee Kah Choon.
According to him, most of the illegal immigrants were found to be carriers of the deadly malaria, polio, tuberculosis and many more contagious diseases.
He pointed out that health screening was not conducted on the illegals before they entered the country.
"Contagious diseases are on the rise again and the main source is the illegal immigrants," he said when opening a Health Exhibition organised by Penang Consumer Association (CAP) here Saturday.
He added that most of the contagious diseases including malaria and polio had been eradicated before but reappeared when more immigrant workers started entering the country illegally in the last few years.
He said the Health Ministry was cooperating with various agencies to control the spread of contagious diseases in the country.
Meanwhile, Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) president S.M Mohd Idris said many Malaysians became ill because they consumed too much sugar.
"Each Malaysian consumes an average of 140 grammes of sugar daily which is three times more than the recommended amount," he said.
He said CAP would try to educate consumers about the danger of consuming too much sugar which could cause incurable diseases such as diabetes.