Sarawak declared Stage II Rabies epidemic

KUCHING, Jan 25 (Bernama) – The Rabies or Mad Dog epidemic is now declared as Stage II Disaster after the epidemic occurred in more than one districts in Sarawak.

The chairman of the State Disaster Management Committee (JPBN), Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said the decision was made during the State Government Meeting at Wisma Bapa yesterday.

"The decision was made after Rabies positive cases among humans recorded 17 cases with 16 fatal cases and the number of Rabies positive cases had reached to 61 areas throughour Sarawak except for Limbang division.

"The management of Stage II Disaster is the management and handling of disaster that occurred in more than one district which required coordination and use of resources at the state level with assistance from the central level,”said Uggah.

Commenting further, he said JPBN was responsible to mobilise the disaster management machinery at the state level to ensure that all action were implemented properly, efficiently and with coordination.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Health Ministry (KKM) was targeting to open up 15 more Dog Bite Clinics in early June this year in efforts to overcome the rabies epidemic in the state.

Deputy Health Minister Dr Lee Boon Chye said there were 10 such clinics currently and if the target could be reached the total number of such clinics in the state would reach 25 by the end of the year.

He said the government had also spent more than RM2 million for the rabies vaccine injected on dogs in Sarawak.

“Our policy is to achieve zero neglected dogs and rabies free among humans by the year 2022 and free among animals by the year 2025.

-- BERNAMA