The A (H1N1) flu death toll in Malaysia has climbed to 62 with another three fatalities with the daily increase of 283 cases to total 3,857 cases in the country.
On the international front, South Korea and Japan have confirmed their first A (H1N1) death.
The first South-Korea death is a 56-year-old man who returned from a visit to Thailand while the first Japanese death, a man in his fifties, had apparently not been overseas.
The H1N1 flu outbreak, declared a pandemic in June, has spread around the world and could eventually affect 2 billion people, according to World Health Organisation estimates.
The virus has killed more than 800 people worldwide since emerging in April.
For the first time, the Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai has admitted that A (H1N1) virus could affect five million Malaysians, based on the WHO estimate that that if 20% of Malaysia’s 27.7 million or 5.5 million are at risk and exposed to the virus.
This report was given prominent treatment in some local media which should help in creating greater public alert and vigilance against the killer pandemic.
The question is why Liow had not taken the first opportunity to warn Malaysians of this worst-scene WHO scenario, when the National Influenza Pandemic Task Force was first informed of this possible scenario by Dr Tee Ah Sian, WHO director of communicable diseases some three weeks ago on July 27.
I had asked Liow on July 31 to respond to this WHO worst-scene scenario but the Health Minister chose to keep his silence – when his prompt communication of this scenario might have helped to create greater national awareness and vigilance with a reduced number of the number of cases and fatalities which have occurred so far.
In this connection, the concerns expressed in a letter to Malaysiakini by Professor Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Rasdi warrant prompt response from the Health Minister, viz:
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The callous attitude of the Minister for Information, Communication and Culture Datuk Seri Rais Yatim who had said that Malaysians should not be alarmed or be an alarmist because Britain had 350 deaths and they did not “panic” or “raise the alarm”; and
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The official line reflected in the media reporting that suggests that only a certain “high risk” group is susceptible to end up fatally.
An important element of the strategy in the war against A (H1N1) flu killer pandemic is to have a special unit which responds to public concerns which appear in the public domain but which seems to be woefully non-existent in Malaysia despite the WHO declaration of a pandemic in June.
#1 by wesuffer on Monday, 17 August 2009 - 12:43 pm
i know anti septic is not help to kill virus .
but true it can help to kill germ. as health ministry advised everyone wash hand often.wear mask. even mask also canot 100% prevent from H1N1
but kill germ is 1st step to avoid ppl get sick.
if ppl fall sick keep raising then these ppl will easy influence H1N1 virus due to their ewak anti body.
i remember this is one of methods how hongkong to fight SARS lastime. hk goverment ask all residents to clean and wash their residences building.
#2 by m2molo on Monday, 17 August 2009 - 1:29 pm
Hi ablastine, we’re not smart. But sometimes we do not need to be smart to understand something. Look at the statistics. There are so many cases reported in Australia, UK, Mexico, etc. but the death toll is lower compared to that of Malaysia. What does this tell? Are Malaysians weak and more vulnerable to the virus? I think it’s something wrong to do with our healthcare system. We’re not blaming MOH minister or officials. I think MOH did a good job earlier, but not later when the death toll hikes rapidly. They just do not put enough effort. We just want to pressure MOH to be more serious. Look at China… how many death toll in China? My Chinese friend told me Chinese government takes very firm action in handling this flu outbreak. Look at UK… http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/documents/digitalasset/dg_178842.htm … you may test yourself if you’re affected by the virus.
#3 by m2molo on Monday, 17 August 2009 - 1:37 pm
It looks to me that MOH minister is very free…
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v608/zhaopian/SoFree.png
#4 by OrangRojak on Monday, 17 August 2009 - 1:52 pm
H1N1 could work out very well in CSL’s favour. Not only is he the name on the advice on the MOH’s revamped H1N1 website, he appears to be playing things quite straight for once. See (for example) the UK government’s face mask advice:
It wouldn’t be hard to be a Health Minister in Malaysia. Everything is so far behind the rest of the world, you just have to spend a couple of hours reading other governments’ websites, write a summary and tada! You are the expert.
CSL’s attitude may not be ‘good for business’ if you’re in the business of selling snake oil in a pandemic. I think though it sends out the message that he’s as at risk as any other Malaysian. Wearing expensive placebos, in my view, might tempt people to believe that he doesn’t care about those who can’t afford them. Other news today is that the government is considering price controls on face masks. People won’t pay anything to be in good health, but will pay anything not to die!
#5 by ablastine on Tuesday, 18 August 2009 - 1:02 am
In fact I think the Ministry of Health is really very serious and concern about the H1N1 spread more so now when the numbers brought
up here do suggest that the death toll is higher than many other places. However, as I brought up earlier, the mortality rate given cannot be very accurate because we do not know the total number of people that has been affected at that point in time. We may be at a phase where the spread is at its maximum accleration, where a large number of the population is being newly infected at once. Malaysia is probably now at the mitigation phase as well, as the virus is circulating freely in the community. It is a difficult
balancing act to do. To over-react here may in fact be counter-productive as it means having to severely curtail all human activities and shutting down the economy at this difficult time will really spell trouble of another kind. In the end the virus will still continue to spread although it may slow down a bit. I am incline to believe that the health care system and how hard the Ministry officers try have only a weak correlation with the H1N1 Mortality. Perhaps other places like Singapore uses Tamiflu more but if the mortality rate
in Malaysia is in fact truly very much higher than the rest of the world, it would really mean that the strain here has mutated to a more virulent kind and that is a big cause for worry. If that is the case I suppose the Health Ministry again is going the get the brunt of it all – for allowing the virus to mutate !
#6 by hp on Saturday, 22 August 2009 - 7:54 pm
#7 by nckeat on August 16th, 2009 18:51
See I told you, LKS only is ‘elated’ everytime there is a new death which gave him opportunity to attack the gov. He has nothing new to contribute at all beside repeating the statistic. He is not even coming out with his expert recommendation.
nckeat, hmmm…. i would agree with raven77
#19 by raven77 on August 16th, 2009 20:57
If you cannot do the job, why don’t hand over to LKS and co to do the job. Why the heck he must do the job for you fellas….Unless of course LKS and co willing to work as unpaid employees for BN government
guess what’s the result of complaining, bising-ing or if some wanna call it attacking the govenment???…
star online 22 august headline
Insurance firms to cover claims
malaysiakini 22 august
H1N1: No deaths for second day, 310 discharged
Prognosis: Flu to last for a year, mostly mild
the authorities dont seems to be able to do their work unless pressured.
sigh …