No dengue outbreak

Star: KLANG: Travellers from Hong Kong have no cause to fear they would contract dengue fever if they visit Malaysia, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek.
Dr Chua was responding to a question over a report in a Hong Kong newspaper which cautioned against visiting Malaysia due to an alleged dengue outbreak.
“This advice is baseless because dengue is endemic, meaning that it is always here but there occurs an increase in cases from time to time,” said Dr Chua.
He was speaking to reporters after the launch of the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital (HTAR) Outpatient Treatment Complex here by Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah of Selangor yesterday.
Dr Chua also said Selangor was the only state that had seen an increase in dengue cases.
Besides the media report, the Hong Kong Travel Health Services website also stated that a 34-year-old traveller from Hong Kong had “imported” the disease from Malaysia. The advisory stated that the woman had been in Malaysia from Oct 10 to 24.
“This is not accurate and I received a call from Deputy Tourism Minister (Datuk Donald Lim) about it and we hope to relay this (that its not accurate information) to the Hong Kong administration through him and the Tourism Ministry,” added Dr Chua.
He said certain parties, including those from other countries, had misconstrued the Government’s transparency policy in providing information.
Earlier in his speech Dr Chua said Selangor had been given RM1.042bil, the biggest allocation given to a state for healthcare under the 9th Malaysia Plan.
“Among the main projects to be initiated are the Shah Alam and Kuala Selangor hospitals, the Bandar Botanic Health Clinic, the Food and Vector Quality Control Laboratory as well as the Klang district health office.”
According to Dr Chua, the Health Ministry was aware of the overcrowding at HTAR due to an increase in population and rapid development in surrounding areas.
He said the Government had built hospitals in Selayang, Serdang, Ampang and Sungai Buloh.
“Now that these hospitals are fully operational, we hope that overcrowding in HTAR will be reduced.”