It is regrettable that the Speaker of the Parliament rejected my emergency motion to debate the Rabies outbreak in Sarawak.
My motion reads as follows:
“Since the first confirmed case of children infected with rabies virus in Serian Division on 1-7-2017, there have been 5 deaths caused by the virus.
Although the State Government and the Ministry of Health has, from day 1 of the confirmed rabies case, told the public that everything was under control, the disease continues to spread.
The rabies outbreak which started in Serian, has within 1 month, spread to Sri Aman (which is about 100 km distance away from Serian) and outskirt of Kuching at Jalan Semaba (which is 60 km distance away from Serian in another direction).
As at 24-7-2017, there were 20 areas officially declared as rabies-affected areas.
Despite the alarming rate of new areas adding to the list of rabies-affected areas, the State Government is still letting stray dogs roam the streets in Kuching.
There is a shortage of vaccine and also shortage of man-power to contain the spread of the disease.
The State Government is also not taking on the problem with any sense of urgency. Compared to spread of rabies virus in Penang in 2015 where no human life was lost, we in Sarawak, now has lost 5 lives in less than a month.
As such, it is pertinent that this August House be adjourned to consider this matter urgently and nation-wide resources be mobilised and deployed to help Sarawak contain the disease.”
The reason given by the Speaker in rejecting my motion is that the Minister for Health has clarified the matter on 25-7-2017 during the Question-Answer session.
Such reason given by the Speaker in rejecting my motion is most unacceptable on the following 2 grounds:
- The Rabies outbreak is not handled by the Ministry for Health alone. The veterinary department is under the Ministry of Agriculture. That is why during his answer on 25-7-2017, the Minister for Health wrongly informed the Parliament that there is sufficient vaccine to handle the outbreak while on the ground, there is clearly a shortage of vaccine to be administered. Minister for Agriculture must also come to Parliament to address this issue.
- There is insufficient time allocated during the Question Answer session. At most the Minister was given a few minutes to reply to the question. The rabies outbreak has taken 5 lives. This is not a matter where one can give a full account of the issue in a few minutes. There must be a proper motion for which the matter can be fully discussed.
It is the government’s own definition that the rabies-affected area is an area of 10 km radius from where a dog is found to have infected with the virus. By this definition, given that the authority has found dogs infected with the rabies virus in Jalan Semaba, and now Sg Maong wet market, then, within this 10-km radius, the whole of Kuching is now rabies-affected area by the Authority’s own classification.
If that is so, then the Government must be more pro-active in catching the strays from the streets in Kuching city. But why are we still seeing strays running around?
Our proposals are simple:
- Set several locations as quarantine areas for the strays;
- Round up the strays and keep them at the quarantine areas under observation and at the same time administer them with the vaccine;
- For those strays which have shown sign of infection, then the only way is to cull them;
- Then set up an adoption program for the public to adopt those dogs after the vaccines have become effective.
If the Council has insufficient manpower to round up all the stray dogs, then the government should mobilise the armed forces and reserves to help.
People will not be panic but everyone is currently very worried, especially given that the “rabies-affected” areas keep increasing and the authorities are not seen to take care of strays despite knowing that these strays are the most potential carriers of the virus.
The Minister’s assurance that everything is “under-control” will not drive away the people’s worry and fear because more and more places have become rabies-affected areas despite such statements being made by the minister more than 2 weeks ago.
Furthermore, all our Sarawak ministers are chauffeur driven and they do not have to walk alone on the street. They are not exposed to strays and do not understand the worry and anxiety of those who are and also those parents whose children are compelled to walk to schools and back everyday.