THE Serian family who lost two of their young children to rabies infection is to get a new house.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has pledged RM60,000 to build a new house to replace the dilapidated zinc shack the family calls home.

Zahid’s pledge was disclosed by Human Resources Minister Richard Riot.

The money would be from his ministerial allocation.

Riot, who is also the Serian MP, told reporters after the presentation of government grants at the Serian community hall yesterday the deputy prime minister made the pledge during the cabinet meeting on Wednesday in Putrajaya.

Riot said with the amount, the house the Kampung Paon Rimu Bakung family would get would be better than the houses built under the hardcore poor housing project (PPRT).

He also said the Serian district office will open the tender process to choose the contractor on Monday.

At the pace the process is going, Riot said the family of six – the couple and their four remaining children aged between two and 12 – could move into the new house in three months.

Zahid’s pledge came after the Sarawak government had approved RM68,000 to build a new house for the family under the housing assistance for the poor programme.

Deputy Chief Minister Douglas Uggah said Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg had agreed to help the family as the present house is not suitable for occupancy.

The family is solely dependent on their father, an odd-job worker.

Their two children – Monica, six, and Jackson, four, died in the Sarawak General Hospital in Kuching on Tuesday after their parents consented to have their life support system removed.

The children were already declared brain dead then.

Meanwhile, the third victim in the Serian district rabies outbreak, reportedly has regained consciousness and is able to speak.

The seven-year-old from Kampung Lebor in Gedong is in the intensive care unit of the hospital.

The girl’s mother told reporters that her daughter had complained of sore throat and rashes.

The girl was bitten by a dog on May 27 when she, her siblings and mother were on their way to her grandmother’s house in a neighbouring village.

She was bitten on the left forearm. – July 8, 2017.