PASIR GUDANG: Johor State Health, Culture and Heritage Committee chairman Mohd Khuzzan Abu Bakar will meet the parents of 12-year-old Irfan Wafiy Idham Wazir, who is suffering from myokymia, allegedly caused by exposure to pollutants from Sungai Kim Kim last March.
According to Khuzzan, he hopes to discuss with the parents on the boy’s plight and how the authorities could help.
"We will do our best to help ease the family's burden, to the best of our means. Health officers have been following up on Irfan's progress and medical condition since March," he added.
Khuzzan said this at a press conference yesterday following a viral video of the boy's father Idham Wazir, having an angry outburst in front of the Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin during a meeting with industry players on the Pasir Gudang incident.
Idham had claimed that the family had not received any help from the state, with regards to his son’s sufferings.
It was unknown how Idhamm had managed to slip into the closed door meeting meant only for representatives from the chemical factories operating in Pasir Gudang which was held at the Menara Aqabah on Monday.
According to media reports, Irfan' movement is limited after he was confirmed to be suffering from myokymia — a type of ailment which causes several parts of the body to tremble.
The fourth of five siblings was said to have developed the Parkinson’s-like problem after being exposed to the Sungai Kim Kim chemical pollution in March.
He was among the hundreds affected and was warded to the Sultan Ismail Hospital (SIH) after he allegedly sniffed poisonous gas from the site while he was at Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Taman Bukit Dahlia.
Specialists at SIH had carried out numerous procedures, including Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to determine the cause of the tremble.
Irfan’s case was then referred to Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL) where doctors confirmed he was diagnosed with myokymia as a result of inhaling poisonous gases.
His father was forced to quit his job as an engineer because he had to travel between KL and Johor for treatment, and claimed that the state authorities had not provided any aid to Irfan and his family.
On March 7, 105 students and residents near Sungai Kim Kim fell sick and were admitted to the hospital before authorities identified the cause was chemical wastes dumped into Sungai Kim Kim.
On March 11, 2019, the second wave of poisonous gas reactions from the chemical wastes in Singai Kim Kim resulted in 106 new victims warded with the number of victims reaching 1,000.
Authorities then said several poisonous gases were produced at the site after the chemicals reacted with water and air. These include acrylonitrile, xylene, methane and toluene gases which could cause headaches, nausea, unconsciousness and breathing difficulties.