theSun | WEDNESDAY JULY 8 2009
news without borders
Ministry ready to face
mitigation stage
by Karen Arukesamy
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
PETALING JAYA: In the wake of the fast-spreading and travel restriction; and
A(H1N1) virus which has raised global concerns, the
question now is how various sectors can respond
to the pandemic to migitate its effects.
According to reports, influenza pandemics have nuity plans to protect their staff.
occurred every 20 to 30 years around the world:
in 1918, the Spanish flu pandemic known as H1N1
caused some 40 to 50 million deaths globally; in
1957, the Asian flu/H2N2 caused
about a million deaths; and
the Hongkong flu/H3N2 of
1968 recorded a similar
casualty. INFLUENZA
“The influenza virus » 03-88810200/300
can keep changing and,
after a certain period, it
» 03-88834414/415
will develop into a new
virus. Because of this, in 1995,
the World Health Organisation (WHO) called on all
the countries to develop a pandemic prepared- are a number of unlinked cases with no known epi-
ness plan,” the Health Ministry’s Disease Control
Division director, Datuk Dr Hasan Abd Rahman, said
yesterday.
Malaysia came up with the National Influenza
Pandemic Preparedness Plan (NIPPP) in 2005 and
implemented it the following year.
Hasan said the pandemic can be tackled in vari-
ous ways, such as:
» medical intervention – antiviral drugs, vaccine, in the community because if there is an outbreak
No fixing
BERNAMAPIX
of marks
in USIM,
says ministry
by Tan Yi Liang
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
PETALING JAYA: An investigation into allega-
tions of marks-fixing at Universiti Sains Islam
Malaysia (USIM) by former law lecturer Yasmin
Norhazleena Bahari Md Noor found no proof of
her claims, said the Higher Education Ministry.
In a statement issued yesterday to refute
Yasmin’s claims, the ministry’s director-gen-
eral, Radin Umar Radin Sohadi, said: “USIM
has proved there was no marks-fixing in its
investigations, and the allegations of such a
practice are wholly untrue”.
“The statement by the minister of higher
education (on June 25) that marks-fixing is
wholly unacceptable is true,” it said.
It pointed out that a thorough examination
was conducted by the ministry after receiving
Yasmin’s complaints in June last year.
“After receiving the first complaint on June
10, 2008, the Ministry of Higher Education
began an investigation into the matter, evaluat-
ing the manner in which exam scripts were
evaluated and whether there was injustice to
the complainant,” it said.
The Public Complaints Bureau had also
investigated the matter, and decided no further
action was required, it said.
The statement said USIM has clear internal
rules and procedures in the marking of exam
scripts and grading students.
“The USIM system of assessing and marking
exams has clear policies and procedures. Every
exam decision is discussed and examined at
the undergraduate examiners committee
meeting at faculty level, before being brought
to the university senate for validation or re-ex-
amination if there is any doubt to its fairness,”
it said.
The ministry also said USIM had received
MS ISO 9001:2000 accreditation from Sirim,
which proves USIM has clear and transparent
systems for its examinations,” it said.
USIM’s public relations office said the mat-
ter had been settled and it was “no longer an
issue”.
medical care and treatment;
» non-medical intervention – personal hygiene,
quarantine, social distancing, risk communication
» for service sectors like security, water supply,
power supply, transportation, telecommunication
and other essential services to have business conti-
“The new strain is a mix of human, avian and
swine genes and is transmitted from human to hu-
man, and everyone is at risk because of the absence
of immunity,” he said.
He said the containment phase approach in
Malaysia is effective but the
Health Ministry is ready to
A(H1N1) HOTLINE
face the mitigation stage if
the need arises.
“The transition from
containment to mitigation
phase is when there is
clear evidence of beginning
of widespread community transmission where there
demiological link to any known case,” he said.
“It is a shared responsibility and we should not
wait for the pandemic to impact everyone before
we act.”
Hasan said about 80% of Malaysia’s cases are
imported but this may change if there is an outbreak
in the country.
“The aim now is to delay the spread of the virus
Only 2% of Malaysians give blood
by Husna Yusop
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
PUTRAJAYA: Only about 2% of Malaysians are
blood donors, less than half the World Health
Organisation’s (WHO) target of 5% donors
among the population of a particular country.
However, this does not pose a problem,
said Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai,
as there is adequate supply in the blood bank
at present.
“Blood can only be stored for 42 days.
There is no point overshooting it too high,
otherwise we have to phase it out,” he told a
press conference yesterday.
“Whenever we are short of blood, we
quickly move our unit out and collect more.
So far, we have no problem maintaining supply
in our blood bank. Malaysians are ever willing
to come forward to donate blood.
“Five percent is the recommended per-
centage. It is just a yardstick, and it is not
necessary to achieve that because at 2% we
have enough.”
Earlier, Liow received a bus from NCB Hold-
ings Bhd. It is the first mobile blood donation
vehicle for the National Blood Centre.
He said the amount of blood collected
H1N1 statistics
(as of 8am, July 7)
» New cases: 34
(Malaysians 24, Indonesians 5,
Australians 3, American 1, Danish 1)
» Imported cases: 22
» Local transmissions: 12
and about
» Total no. of cases: 468
(335 discharged, 133 under quarantine)
» World total: 95,528
(44 deaths from 134 countries)
10% of the
population
is affected,
there will
not be adequate medical services to treat every-
one,” he said.
Malaysia has not officially imposed travel restric-
tions to or from the infected countries although WHO
has declared the pandemic is in phase six.
“In the mitigation stage, the aim will be to reduce
morbidity and mortality, to slow the spread of dis-
ease although it cannot be controlled completely,
and to minimise disruption to essential services,”
he said.
During this stage, there will still be disease
surveillance conducted to identify the area of the
outbreak, look out for clustering whether in particu-
lar communities, schools or groups.
“We would then establish the extent of spread
to see whether the outbreak has only affected one
street or others as well, or in a school whether only
one classroom is affected or several others as well,”
he said
Husna Yusop reports from Putrajaya: There
were 34 new cases reported in the 24 hours as at
8am yesterday compared with 75 on Monday.
Of these, 22 were imported cases and the rest
local transmissions, Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow
Tiong Lai said.
Altogether, there were 468 accumulated cases
– 355 imported and 133 local, he said.
Liow gets
his blood
pressure
checked in
the mobile
throughout Malaysia hads increased by 4%
last year to 527,898 units from 507,808 units blood
donation
in 2007.
Of this, 76.1% was collected through vehicle
mobile units. yesterday.
With the blood donation vehicle, he said, Looking on
the ministry expects more donors to come is Zuraidah.
forward as the facilities were available on
board.
Liow said several government hospitals
such as Kuala Lumpur, Serdang, Selayang,
Ampang, Kajang, Sungai Buloh and Putrajaya
Hospitals, as well as 130 private hospitals,
obtained blood from the blood centre.
“The amount of blood collected by the
centre last year was 130,925 units while
60,678 units have been collected in the first
five months this year,” he said. Jackson’s
“About 400 to 500 units of blood are used
daily, and the centre has to mobilise at least
mother
five mobile units around the country every loses
day.” control
According to NCB Holdings director
Datuk Zuraidah Atan, the bus, which costs
of estate
RM440,000, is designed to have a waiting pg 8
area, an interview area, four beds, pantry,
equipment cabinets and refrigerator for blood
storage.
3
Dr M tells
docs to be
loyal
to country
by Hemananthani Sivanandam
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad says future
doctors should be loyal to the nation and
serve in the country’s medical industry
as it is important for national develop-
ment.
At a dialogue with students from
International Medical University (IMU)
yesterday, Mahathir said there should
be a sense of loyalty among future
doctors as they were “helped” by the
country.
“We live, grow up and enjoy life in this
country so we should ask ourselves how
we became successful, how we become
educated and qualified,” he said.
Mahathir said Malaysia spends mil-
lions to develop some of the best minds
of the country but some of these talented
people are often enticed by offers from
other countries.
“We give education to millions of our
children and out of these millions, you
have a few really good ones,” he said.
“But suddenly others come along and
whisk them away. I think they should pay
us for those we have invested in.”
The former premier, who is also a
qualified medical doctor, has always
been critical of western countries rob-
bing the best minds from developing
nations.
He said people are often enticed by
the high pay they receive in different
countries.
He said it was acceptable for people
to study abroad but they should rethink
their decision about staying abroad
permanently as they should be loyal to
their nation.
“If you think you owe the people
who helped you, then I don’t think you
will leave the country so easily,” said
Mahathir.
Herald
applications
hearing on
July 17
KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court yester-
day fixed July 17 to hear the applications
by nine religious councils to intervene
in the Roman Catholic Church’s fresh
application for a judicial review over the
usage of the word “Allah” in its weekly
publication.
Justice Lau Bee Lan also set the same
date in chambers for mention of the
judicial review application, which was to
have been heard yesterday.
The intervernors were seven state
religious councils from Perak, Tereng-
ganu, Penang, Selangor, Kedah, Johor
and Malacca, the Malaysian Gurdwaras
Council and the Malaysia Chinese Muslim
Association.
On Feb 16, the titular Roman Catholic
Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, Tan Sri
Murphy Pakiam, filed a fresh application
for a judicial review after the 2008 judicial
review application had become academic
as the permit for the Herald publication
for the period Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2008, had
expired.
In the application, Pakiam, as pub-
lisher of the Herald, named the Home
Ministry and government of Malaysia as
respondents in his action for a declara-
tion that the decision of the respondents
dated Jan 7, 2009, prohibiting him from
using the word “Allah” in the Herald-The
Catholic Weekly is illegal. – Bernama