Govt should provide evidence (photos, names..) before accusing home owners for breeding mosquitoes! - CNA (12Jun07) - Second dengue death
"Name And Shame" culprits breeding mosquitoes?
Sent to the Singapore Government:
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"With more dengue cases detected at home, Dr Amy Khor, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, has urged Singaporeans not to let their guard down."
Channel News Asia (12 June 2007), "Second dengue death shows we need to be more alert: Dr Khor"
12 June 2007
Again, we hear of PAP MPs, Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries, Senior Parliamentary Secretaries, civil servants all pointing the accusing fingers at home owners (just rhetoric but without any substantiation like photos, data, names, etc..) for breeding mosquitoes.
On the other hand, there is equally no shortage of accusing fingers from the public (all with "evidence" like photos, names of those responsible like PUB, NEA, etc..) at government agencies for their failure to maintain public areas like drains, etc.. before they are clogged, resulting in them becoming potential mosquito breeding grounds.
Based on the above, how can Dr Khor confidently claim that "more dengue cases detected at home,... " without any substantiation while the public backed their claims with evidence? Like Ms Kaur said, "..it is not fair to "push all the blame" to the people" when such accusations are not backed by evidence.
Like I suggested in my June 1st email (attached below), the government should
Is the government up to the challenge because such "naming and shaming" might well reveal the true culprits to be the government agencies themselves?
Probably that's why the government is so reluctant to implement this solution even if this solution may well work to deter those responsible for breeding mosquitoes - the source of yet another outbreak not long after the major one in 2005.
Rgds
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Swarni Kaur <> wrote:
Dear MP,
You were quoted in today's paper that "in spite of the efforts to promote the fight against dengue, Singaporeans were still complacent. People still think they are invincible. We need people to understand that it can really happen to them."
While it may be true that some singaporeans are complacent or ignorant, but it is not fair to "push all the blame" to the people. But the reality is that there are a lot of room for PUB and NEA to improve.
See the following websites and these photos that I have taken.
1) Stagnant water on grass patch along Boon Lay Way. Near Jurong East Sports complex
2) leaves, rubbish and stagnant water in drain along Jurong Town Road. Outside snow city.
Maybe PUB and NEA too think that Singaporean are invincible to dengue.
Regards!
==============================================================
SINGAPORE: With more dengue cases detected at home, Dr Amy Khor, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, has urged Singaporeans not to let their guard down.
A second dengue related death was reported on Monday.
293 dengue cases were reported last week, up from 227 cases the week before.
The Aedes mosquitoes are increasingly adaptable and can breed even in a 20-cent coin size pool of water.
Dr Khor said everyone needs to play a part to bring down the numbers.
"We have found home breeding to have increased in the last couple of months. So we really need to make sure that everyone's involved, not just the managers, town councils... not just the pest control people, but also the residents.
"We do not hope that this will revert to what we have seen in 2005 but we really need to take precautions, put in a lot more effort to be vigilant and alert in order to... prevent this from escalating up to 2005 levels," Dr Khor added. - CNA/yy
Straits Times (12 June 2007) - Drain (outside NUS Law along Bt Timah Rd) still choked despite calling NEA, PUB
"Name And Shame" culprits breeding mosquitoes?http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Story/STIStory_128318.htmlJune 12, 2007
Drain still choked despite calling NEA, PUB
DENGUE cases have been on the rise in the past few weeks and the National Environment Agency (NEA) has been sending pamphlets to households, reminding residents to do their part in preventing mosquito breeding.
However, I have noticed a rather-alarming scene along Bukit Timah Road, where a roadside drain outside the NUS Law Faculty has been choked with weeds for the past few months, resulting in water stagnating in the drain.
I called the NEA hotline and was told that PUB Waterworks, which was responsible for maintaining the drain, would be notified. I made the call in the beginning of May, but nothing was done after a few weeks.
When I called the NEA hotline again, I was told that PUB Waterworks had been informed, and was given its telephone number so that I could remind it personally.
Upon calling the PUB, an officer told me that he would inspect the drain that day. However, a few weeks have passed, the weeds have not been cleared and the drain is still choked.
If residents have been told to do their part against mosquito breeding, shouldn't government agencies, which are responsible for taking care of public areas, set an example by doing their part as well?
Cheong Sooi Peng (Mdm)
PUB/Boon Lay Drive - TNP (6June07) - 100m of drain found clogged in dengue hotspot. PUB slaps maintenance contractor with demerit points
"Name And Shame" culprits breeding mosquitoes?-Clogged+drains.jpg)
To: NEA
cc: REACH
7 June 2007
I believe Ms Kaur has been highlighting this stretch of drain since months
ago but the situation does not seem to have improved, despite the heightened
dengue risk in recent months.
Rgds
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Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 08:00:04 -0800 (PST)
From: Swarni Kaur <>Subject: drains near parc vista and boon lay driveTo: YAP_KHENG_GUAN@PUB.GOV.SG, jenlee@sph.com.sg, S_Satish_APPOO@nea.gov.sg,Contact_NEA@nea.gov.sgCC: tckhoo@pub.gov.sg, lee_yuen_hee@nea.gov.sg, denguealert@yahoo.com
see photo of choked drains outside parc vista condo and boon lay drive.
these photo are taken on 7th Jan.
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http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,132314-1181167140,00.html?
DANGER DRAIN
100m of drain found clogged in dengue hotspot. PUB slaps maintenance contractor with demerit points
DENGUE cases are on the rise, and we have to stop the mozzies from breeding.
By Teh Jen Lee
06 June 2007
DENGUE cases are on the rise, and we have to stop the mozzies from breeding.
But last week, the drains along Boon Lay Drive were clogged and full of stagnant water.
When The New Paper went down to investigate, we found at least 100 metres of the drain along one side of the road blocked with sand, leaves and trash. There was some clogging of the drain on the other side too.
No mosquito larva could be seen, though the water was murky.
It was obvious from the stagnant water and rotting waste that the drains had not been cleared for a long time.
Local residents were jittery. Especially as there is an active dengue cluster in the area, with cases reported in five blocks along Boon Lay Drive.
Pointing at the clogged drain, housewife Lim Lay Hwa, 43, said in Mandarin: 'It's definitely possible for mosquitoes to breed in the water. I've heard of seven cases of dengue in this neighbourhood.'
She was worried about her three children aged 2 to 9, getting dengue.
She noted that the drains used to be better kept. 'Maybe it's because some blocks of flats around here have become empty recently when people moved out,' she said.
Said Madam Rosnah Mahad, 42, a housewife cycling past the clogged drains: 'Of course I am concerned. The authorities should clean it up.'
Another resident, who gave his name only as John, said: 'It seems like this area has been neglected. My mother almost died from dengue 10 years ago. I know how scary it can be. I really hope something is done.'
He said the area is home to many foreign students and workers, and more should be done to educate them on the dangers of the disease.
Ministry of Health figures have shown that roughly 30 per cent of dengue cases here involve foreigners.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) and the Public Utilities Board (PUB) are jointly responsible for ensuring that drains do not become breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
In reply to our queries, Mr Tan Nguan Sen, PUB's director for catchment and waterways, said its contractors are engaged under a performance-based contract to maintain the drains.
This rewards good performance and penalises shoddy work.
PENALISED
'Under this system, the contractors will have to clean as often as it is needed to keep the drains clean and litter-free, and they will be paid more if more cleaning is needed. However, if they fail to keep the drains clean, they will be penalised,' he said.
'The contractor in charge of Boon Lay Drive and Boon Lay Avenue failed to meet the standards and has been given demerit points, which will affect future performance evaluations.'
He added that the clogged drains have since been cleared.
'PUB welcomes all public feedback. All feedback received will help to strengthen our system, especially as Singapore has more than 7,000 km of drains and canals. The public can contact us at our 24-hour call centre PUB-One at 1800-2846600,' Mr Tan said.
A spokesman for NEA said it will apply granular insecticide to prevent mosquito-breeding whenever it comes across water stagnation in drains.
As for educating foreign workers on dengue, NEA has developed and distributed anti-dengue materials in English, Mandarin, Malay, Tamil, Bengali, Burmese, Thai, Tagalog and Sinhalese.
The number of dengue cases reported between 20 and 26 May is 259.
Weekly figures are released every Tuesday. The number of cases for the week of 27 May to 2 Jun will be released at noon today.
Jalan Besar Town Council & PUB? - Fwd: Clogged drains. Good breeding spots? (Sims Drive/Sims Place)
'May I suggest that perhaps the government can adopt the "Name and Shame" (visit related site
http://namenshame.blogspot.com/ to view listing of these culprits) strategy by identifying which areas that have been found to be breeding mosquitoes and under whose responsibilities (eg town councils, PUB, outsourced contractors, developers, individual household residents, etc...) with the corresponding Corrective Work Order (CWO) of "area cleaning" for culprits?
'http://denguealert.blogspot.com/2007/06/choked-and-overflowing-drain-and-sum.htmldenguealert@yahoo.com===================================================
Reply from NEA:
Subject: Clogged drains. Good breeding spots?
To:
denguealert@yahoo.comCC: Nordin SULAIMAN
, PUB One ,Damian LEE , Feedback@jbtc.org.sg
From: Zulkarnain HASSAN BAKTEE Zulkarnain_HASSAN_BAKTEE@nea.gov.sg
Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2007 10:58:56 +0800Dear
Sir
I refer to your email feedback as appended below
In our recent check on 6 Jun 07 although no mosquito breeding was detected in the drain , potential habitats such as discarded containers found in the vicinity were removed immediately. We had also alerted to PUB to spruce up the road side drains and the Town Council to cleanse the HDB drains.
We are continuing our close surveillance of the estate
We will continue to work with all parties concerned to ensure a safe and clean environment and monitor the site closely.
Please contact our Managerof the area Mr Nordin Sulaiman at Tel 68546443 should you need further assistance.
Thank you for your feedback.
Sincere regards
Zulkarnain H Baktee
Manager
Customer Relations, Surveillance & Intelligence
Central Regional Office
National Environment Agency
DID +65 68546408
Fax +65 62739641
==================================================
Date: Sun, 27 May 2007 22:21:21 -0700 (PDT)
From: Moonbeam <>
Subject: Clogged drains. Good breeding spots?
To: denguealert@yahoo.com
Hi,
Attached are fotos taken of the drain in front of Blk 52 Sims Place last Thurs (24 May 07).
Sims Drive/Sims Place has been a dengue cluster for quite a number of weeks and the areas have been expanding. There's a lot of mosquitoes in the area, and from the condition of the drains there, it seems as though the drains are the cause of the presence of mosquitoes.Weird that no one has cleaned up the drains yet.
HDB & Town Councils - ST (6 June 2007) - Ltr: New methods and strategy needed to curb mosquitoes
http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Story/STIStory_126303.htmlJune 6, 2007
New methods and strategy needed to curb mosquitoes
THE National Environment Agency should concentrate not only on households in its drive against mosquito breeding but also on other areas, such as drains in
HDB estates and manholes along roads.
Most of the drains in HDB estates and manholes have stagnant water for long periods. They are not flushed or fogged regularly.
Unless the authorities carry out regular maintenance, these are real problems. Unlike private estates where fogging is done once a week, there are no such measures in HDB estates.
Lim Keng Hian
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THE article, 'Dengue situation worrying, says head of CDC' (ST, June 2), is indeed worrying.
In an US experiment, it was found that less than 4 per cent of mosquitoes were killed with fogging. The most effective method is to eliminate them when they are in the larva stage in stagnant water as once they are able to fly, it is very difficult to kill them.
The uptrend in dengue cases is a cause for concern. Perhaps the National Environment Agency should look at non-traditional methods, and breeding places such as coconut trees planted in HDB areas.
Danny Chua Hock Chye
Straits Times (1 June 2007) - Ltr: NEA staff should have told him to call PUB
http://www.straitstimes.com/ST+Forum/Story/STIStory_124781.htmlThe Straits Times
June 1, 2007
NEA staff should have told him to call PUB
ON MAY 25, I noticed that the drain along Jalan Loyang Besar (near Aloha Loyang) was again choked with overgrown weed and fallen leaves. I called the National Environment Agency (NEA) hotline to alert the staff to the problem. The officer assured me that she would pass my feedback to the relevant officer.
Three days later, I went to check on the drain. It was still choked. So I called NEA again. I was shocked when another officer told me that the choked drain comes under PUB. She asked that I call PUB instead.
I called the PUB hotline and an officer promised to have the matter looked into. Meanwhile, the drain is still choked.
It is ironic that while the CEO of NEA was making a big effort to declare war on mosquito breeding, the officer manning the NEA hotline adopted a different attitude.
It seems that whoever is responsible for the upkeep of the drain has failed in their duty. In the past five to 10 years, I had often been the one to clear the overgrown grass and debris.
Ong Kim Soon
Sunday Times (3 June 2007) - Citizen vigilantes step up fight against dengue
June 3, 2007
Citizen vigilantes step up fight against dengue
Singaporeans have been taking part in the war against dengue fever, calling the NEA's hotline with tip-offs. Here, an NEA health officer is applying insecticide to the roof gutters of a house in Yishun. -- MUGILAN RAJASEGERAN
THE National Environment Agency (NEA) may have waged war on dengue fever, but it is still scant comfort to worried Singaporeans who have taken to alerting the authorities on where Aedes mosquitoes might be found.
Some write in to the newspapers. Others forward pictures of drains littered with leaves or refuse to The Straits Times' interactive online portal Stomp. But most are calling the NEA's hotline with tip-offs.
The agency got 2,502 calls last month, up from just 802 in April.
One man, at least, has taken dengue vigilance to another level. Mr Jeffrey Ho, 53, started a blog (www.denguealert.blogspot.com) during the last outbreak in 2005 to track potential breeding sites.
He has been taking pictures of drains choked with leaves, water or litter, posting them on his blog and sending them off to the NEA too.
Since about three months ago, he began getting more contributions to his blog from fellow dengue watchers, some with pictures of other clogged drains around the island.
'Most people don't know which drain falls under which agency's jurisdiction, so it can be quite frustrating sometimes.'
All public roadside drains are maintained by the Public Utilities Board's (PUB) contractors while individual land agencies or occupiers are responsible for the drains within their premises.
So town councils would take charge of those in their HDB estates, while JTC manages those in their industrial estates.
Read the full story in The Sunday Times.
"Name And Shame" culprits breeding mosquitoes?
'May I suggest that perhaps the government can adopt the "Name and Shame" (visit related site
http://namenshame.blogspot.com/ to view listing of these culprits) strategy by identifying which areas that have been found to be breeding mosquitoes and under whose responsibilities (eg town councils, PUB, outsourced contractors, developers, individual household residents, etc...) with the corresponding Corrective Work Order (CWO) of "area cleaning" for culprits? '
http://denguealert.blogspot.com/2007/06/choked-and-overflowing-drain-and-sum.htmldenguealert@yahoo.com
Straits Times (2 June 2007) - Dengue Strikes
+-+dengue+strikes+-+graphic.jpg)
Straits Times - 2 June 2007:
http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_125187.html
June 2, 2007
Scientists stumped by 2 dengue findings here
Strains of disease found here and victims differ from elsewhere in region
By Tania Tan
UNDER INVESTIGATION: Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan visited Sembawang Drug Rehabilitation Centre to review the situation there. -- CHEW SENG KIM
SCIENTISTS studying dengue fever here are stumped on two fronts - that uniquely Singapore strains seem to have risen here and that young adults are most hit by the fever.
Early results from an ongoing islandwide study show that the strains of the virus circulating here could be evolving differently from those in other parts of the region.
Dr Martin Hibberd, a dengue researcher and associate director of infectious diseases at the Genome Institute of Singapore, said: 'It's possible that almost all the strains we see now are found exclusively in Singapore.'
Preliminary findings of the Early Dengue (Eden) infection and outcome study also suggest that young adults here - those over 21 - are more often victims of the disease than their counterparts in other Asian countries where the disease is endemic.
In Indonesia and India, for example, dengue victims are much younger - children.
In the region, the chance of meeting an infected Aedes mosquito carrying the virus is once every six months.
RELATED LINKS
Dengue strikes
Here - because of stringent vector control - the chance of getting bitten by an infected mosquito is about once every 10 years, what Dr Hibberd calls 'a statistical rarity'.
Adults are therefore more likely to be bitten - simply because they have been around longer.
But dengue infection in adults is not well studied here. Instead, most records are of cases of infection among children, said Dr Hibberd.
Even guidelines on treatment and management of the disease from the World Health Organisation were developed with young patients.
With so little to fall back on, doctors and scientists here have their work cut out. They have therefore pulled out all the stops in this fight against disease-bearing mosquitoes.
Eden, launched in 2005, is a collaboration between the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Tan Tock Seng Hospital and the National University of Singapore (NUS).
The study, which tracks the progress of disease development in volunteer patients with fever, hopes to shed light on how adult immune systems respond to dengue, and how best to treat the disease.
Another islandwide study by the National Environment Agency is investigating the proportion of people with immunity against different types of dengue.
Because not enough is known about the disease, vaccines are difficult to develop.
Some drugs are already in clinical trial phase, but researchers have yet to strike upon the 'perfect' vaccine, even after 20 years, said a Novartis spokesman.
A key hindrance is the fact that there are four types of dengue.
Vaccines that do not protect against all four types could do more harm than good, in that patients could end up developing more severe symptoms, said Associate Professor Paul Ananth Tambyah from NUS' Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.
'That is a very high standard that most modern vaccines cannot meet,' he said.
taniat@sph.com.sg
Choked and overflowing drain and sum pit at jct of Gentle and Buckley Road - across from Revenue House
Sent to REACH and NEA on 1 June 2007:
Date: Thu, 31 May 2007 20:05:06 -0700 (PDT)
Re: Choked and overflowing drain and sum pit at jct of Gentle and Buckley Road - across from Revenue House
To: REACH
cc: NEA CEO
1 June 2007
Please see attached photos taken at the subject junction on 31 May 2007 at around 1.34 pm.
You will note that the chokage at the sum pit and surrounding drains had caused the water to overflow. But fortunately, the overflowing water resulting from the chokage was not serious enough to cause any flooding around the area.
What is worrying is that because of the chokage (probably caused by uncleared fallen leaves, litter, etc..), it is potentially a fertile breeding ground for mosquitoes, given that the dengue is back.
Why is it that despite all the efforts that have been put in by the various government agencies (the formation of the inter-ministerial committee to tackle the menace since the major outbreak in 2005), the lessons are still not well learnt?
Well, of course, complacency is partly to blame.
And perhaps coupled with that, an attitude of "It is someone else's responsibility"? (By the way, is this affected area (public drains and sum pit) mentioned herein the responsibility of NEA? PUB? Outsouced contractors? Who else?
May I suggest that perhaps the government can adopt the "Name and Shame" (visit related site
http://namenshame.blogspot.com to view listing of these culprits) strategy by identifying which areas that have been found to be breeding mosquitoes and under whose responsibilities (eg town councils, PUB, outsourced contractors, developers, individual household residents, etc...) with the corresponding Corrective Work Order (CWO) of "area cleaning" for culprits?
I can understand its reluctance (as the culprits might well be its own agencies (like NEA, PUB, MOE, HDB, etc..) or areas under its management (like PAP town councils), but in the interest of public health and accountability, the government should be transparent in identifying who the real culprits are. Otherwise, we will keep having the perennial problem again and again....
Rgds
Jeff
http://www.denguealert.blogspot.com/
-Clogged+drains.jpg)
+-+dengue+strikes+-+graphic.jpg)
