SHAH ALAM: Sleeping late on a Sunday morning was out of the question for students of Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) and Universiti Selangor (Unisel) staying at Section 7 dormitories, when Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) officers came knocking on their doors as part of an anti-dengue eradication and awareness programme.
The students of Flat B were greeted by MBSA officers who acquainted them with the One Home One Aerosol programme, as the area had been identified as a dengue hotspot due to poor up-keeping.
The lack of maintenance is blamed partly on student apathy and also on the inability of MBSA to enter their units to conduct checks and destroy mosquito breeding grounds.
It is learnt that Flat B recorded 170 dengue cases since the beginning of 2017.
The epidemic there started in July last year and has lasted for over 200 days.
The MBSA is expecting it to come to an end next month.
Presenting the students with an aerosol can of insecticide for each unit, the MBSA now hopes that they will take the initiative to kill mosquitoes on their premises, as it has been hard for the City Council to reach out to them in the past.
MBSA environmental health director Dr Roslan Fadzil said from Nov until Feb 10 this year, they were only able to check 745 units of five blocks at Flat B.
"We were unable to enter 1,277 units because the occupants did not want to let us in, or the doors are constantly shut. Many of them are afraid of us finding Aedes mosquito breeding grounds for fear of being compounded.
"But we are not compound-oriented, as we have only issued 12 within the same period. We want to focus on creating awareness and encourage students to (regularly) check on potential mosquito breeding grounds in their homes and destroy them. It should be a concerted effort by everyone in the fight against dengue.
"Since it is difficult to meet these students, as they have to attend classes during the day, the MBSA set up a Dengue Action Unit in Sept last year, which is stationed at Flat B and is active from 5pm onwards every day. Following that, there has been a significant drop in dengue cases to 170, from 312 in the same period last year," he said.
However, Dr Roslan stressed that the RM500 compound charged by the MBSA for each breeding ground discovered will not be lowered, as they mean business when it comes to anti-dengue eradication efforts.
Until Feb 18 this year, the MBSA has conducted checks on 2,787 premises, including residential homes, shop lots and restaurants, all over the city.
Fogging has been carried out at 75,000 premises, while 102 compounds were issued after the discovery of Aedes mosquito breeding grounds.
This morning’s programme was attended by MBSA deputy secretary Rosli Bakar, department directors and local councillors.
Kota Anggerik assemblyman, Yaakob Sapari, said he will be writing to the administrations of UiTM and Unisel requesting for briefings on the programme with the students.
"The reach rate at Flat B is low, at 30 per cent, because it is hard to get hold of students due to their schedules. We hope to raise this to 80 per cent, with the cooperation of the residents association here, as well as the flat's Joint Management Body, in our bid to ensure that the area is dengue-free," he said.