PATIENTS with animal scratches in Sarawak are given a vaccine for tetanus instead of rabies in government hospitals, said a PKR leader.

Batu Lintang assemblyman See Chee How claimed the authorities’ measures were inadequate to curb the rabies outbreak in Sarawak .

“Not only are our hospitals unable to carry out confirmatory blood tests for the victims, I was also told that there are insufficient vaccines in our health units for post-exposure prophylaxis (treatment to prevent infection after exposure),” he said.

The PKR Sarawak vice-chairman also questioned the effectiveness of measures taken by the State Disaster Management Committee to contain the spread of this “mad dog” disease and prevent further loss of human life when “we have only one epidemiologist in the whole of Sarawak”.

“I am informed that in Sarawak, we have only one epidemiologist, in the Sarawak general hospital, and we are poorly equipped with the necessary facilities for post-exposure prophylaxis.”

See said he was also concerned that there was inadequate funding for the state Health Department to be equipped to diagnose, treat and prevent the spread of rabies and other infectious diseases.

“There is a lack of specialist doctors, consultants and trained medical officers in our general hospitals, and there is poor coordination between the state Health Department and the various hospitals and clinics, in the state’s campaign to contain the spread of rabies.

The disease broke out in Sarawak in the Serian district in July last year, believed to have been carried over by dogs from across the border in rabies-infected Kalimantan.

Serian, Samarahan, Sri Aman, Kuching and Sarikei, have since been declared rabies-infected.

Six people, four of them children under the age of seven, have died in the outbreak.

The seventh, a child, is battling for his life.

“I want to know if the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee and the Sarawak State Health Department have highlighted this fact to the federal Ministry of Health, since the rabies outbreak in July last year, to train more of our medical doctors and officers as infectious disease specialists and to upgrade our medical facilities such that we will have a full-fledged epidemiology unit in Sarawak to diagnose, treat and prevent the outbreak and spread of infectious diseases.”

“The upgrading of our human resources, medical supplies and equipment is crucial,” said See today.

See said he understood that that treatment for animal bites and scratches in government hospitals involved “a medical examination, cleaning of wounds, and antibiotics”.

He said there should ideally be blood tests for the victims, especially those from rabies-infected areas.

“However, I was informed that there is not enough medical facilities for rabies confirmatory serology tests or diagnostic examinations of blood serum for everyone.”

He said the blood test for rabies he proposed could save lives.

“The Disaster Management Committee and the Health Department must vigorously persuade the federal Ministry of Health to give our state Health Department sufficient allocation in order that such blood tests can be carried out more extensively by our health units.” – February 21, 2018.