Stinging discovery at Penang Hospital

[Cao Pi]

Wednesday September 22, 2010

Stinging discovery at Penang Hospital

By TAN SIN CHOW
[email protected]

GEORGE TOWN: Mosquitoes have been found breeding at Penang Hospital. The discovery was made after a member of the public informed state Health, Welfare, Caring Society and Environment Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh that several drains were clogged with rubbish, resulting in stagnant water, at the hospital grounds.

Phee, who inspected the hospital grounds yesterday, found a clogged drain near the paediatric ward. “I scooped water from the clogged drain and was surprised to see little creatures wriggling in it. I believe they are mosquito larvae,” he told reporters at the scene yesterday.

Checks by the state Health De_partment revealed that the larvae was from the Culex mosquito, a carrier of diseases such as the West Nile virus, filariasis and Japanese encephalitis. Phee said stern action must be taken against the contractor responsible for the hospital’s cleanliness.

 

[lauhumku]

Second mosquito breeding ground found


Thursday September 23, 2010

Second mosquito breeding ground found

GEORGE TOWN: A second mosquito breeding ground has been discovered at the Penang Hospital, and this time the larvae found is mostly likely to be of the Aedes mosquito. Penang Health Department director Datuk Dr Teh Lei Choo said an enforcement team from the department took water samples from a gutter on the roof of a hospital building. “We believe the larvae found are those of the Aedes mosquito because the water samples collected are clear and clean, an ideal breeding ground,” she said.

On Tuesday State Health, Welfare, Caring Society and Environment Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh, who inspected the hospital grounds, found a clogged drain near the paediatric ward and checks by the Health Department revealed that the larvae were from the Culex mosquito, a carrier of diseases such as the West Nile virus, filariasis and Japanese encephalitis.

Penang Hospital director Dr Raja Lope Ahmad Raja Ariffin believes that the uneven parameter drain resulted in water getting stagnant at one point. When met at the Penang Hari Raya open house in Balik Pulau here, Phee said the hospital should be issued with the compound and not the contractor. “If the larvae is found in someone’s home, the compound would be issued to the owner, not the maid,” he said.