Sunday, January 22, 2012

Docs who don’t report dengue cases face action, Liow warns

The Star KUALA LUMPUR: Medical practitioners who fail to report dengue cases treated at their respective facilities will face action under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act, Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said.

Under the Act, medical practitioners are required to report dengue cases to the health office within 24 hours.

"The ministry regards this as a serious matter because failure to report such cases will hamper the effort to control the disease, and contribute to an outbreak," he said in a statement.

He said last year, six medical officers of a private hospital in Petaling Jaya were fined RM1,000 each for failing to report dengue cases that were treated in their facility.

"The ministry found 213 dengue cases treated by the hospital and of the total, six were not reported to any health office," he said, adding that the ministry would carry out continuous monitoring on private and government clinics and hospital to ensure all dengue cases are reported.

Dengue claimed two lives during the first week of this year, he said.

There are 921 dengue cases so far this year. - Bernama

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