SUNGAI PETANI: All primary schools in Kedah will be asked to submit a report on vaccination screening of students to the District Education Office (PPDs).
The state Education and Transportation Committee chairman Datuk Tajul Urus Mat Zain said he will hold a discussion with the Kedah Education Department on issuing a circular on the matter soon.
"We will study all the reports to ascertain how many primary school pupils in the state have not been vaccinated, and subsequently, will get the schools’ administrations to call up parents for consultation.
"It is crucial for parents to be given proper advice on the importance of getting their children immunised, since we had fatal diphtheria cases involving two siblings in the Paya Nahu Flats here last year," he told reporters here today.
Tajul was responding to a report that the Health Ministry (MOH) has determined that nearly 1,600 children were not vaccinated in 2016.
Yesterday, Deputy Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahya told the Dewan Rakyat that the children are from the states of Perak, Kedah, Pahang, Kelantan and Selangor.
Last July, Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said that the ministry is ready to carry out vaccination screenings at 7,000 national and vernacular primary schools nationwide.
The screening was suggested by the Health Ministry in light of a rise in diphtheria cases last year.