200 Hospital Staff Sent To Johor

KOTA TINGGI, Jan 16 (Bernama) -- About 200 hospital personnel from Perak, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan will be sent to Johor, Wednesday to help Health Ministry staff there to cope with an expected increase in the number of sick people due to the floods in the state.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek said that as the floods in Johor affected both rural and urban areas, many private hospitals and clinics had to close.
"We expect that sick people will throng hospitals and clinics once the flood is over and that is why we decided to increase the number of staff at them," he told reporters after visiting the Kota Tinggi Hospital, here Tuesday.
He said that there were no reported cases of cholera, typhoid or other infectious diseases in the last three days.
However, about 2,000 cases of dysentery were reported during the last three days, mostly at evacuation centres, he said.
There were seven cases of leptospirosis with one death, he added.
Chua advised the public not to play in floodwaters to avoid diseases.
He said that patients with serious diseases at the Kota Tinggi Hospital had been transferred to the Johor Baharu Hospital.
He expected the Kota Tinggi Hospital to return to normal operations in two or three days if the weather improved.
He added that 21 clinics, including 15 in Johor were damaged due to the floods, resulting in RM6.7 million losses.