Uggah (left) showing the map of the area covered by the pilot operation against rabies in Bau and Lundu, while Dr Sim looks on.
KUCHING: A multi-agency pilot operation against the rabies outbreak in Sarawak will take off in Bau and Lundu from March 1 onwards.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas revealed that this would be an integrated operation involving all the government agencies including the police, armed forces, Fire and Rescue Department, Civil Defence personnel, Veterinary Department, Local Government and Housing Ministry and Sarawak Forestry Corporation, while the district offices and the operation control centre at Wisma Bapa Malaysia here would be the secretariats.
He said prior to this, a workshop was held to plan and decide on how to execute the operation.
“I must emphasise here that this pilot project covers only Lundu and Bau, which is from March 1 to 10, because there were impressions that the operation was going to be carried out throughout Sarawak from March 1. No, that impression is not correct.
“I hope this operation will be successfully implemented and if it is, then we will move on to other parts of Sarawak,” he told a press conference after chairing the State Disaster Management Committee meeting at Wisma Bapa Malaysia here today.
Uggah, who heads the State Disaster Management Committee, said the committee has directed the district offices in Bau and Lundu to engage the local population in these two areas because the culture of rearing dogs in villages was different.
The district offices, he said, have been asked to explain to them the objectives of the operation to make sure that they understand it.
“I must also emphasise here that this programme, although it involves the police and military, we are not going to use guns and bullets to carry out the targeted removal of dogs, but we are using the normal system of targeted removal of dogs.
“The objective of our operation is to make sure that 100 per cent of the dogs within the area will be vaccinated. At the moment, about 50 per cent of the dog population in the area has already been vaccinated.
“With this operation, we hope to vaccinate up to 100 per cent. Vaccination is very important to ensure we achieve rabies free Sarawak,” he said. Uggah did not reveal any details on the total dog population in the two areas.
Uggah said in view that some of the dogs that have been vaccinated have exceeded the one year timeframe for the effectiveness of the vaccine, another round of vaccinations will be conducted on those dogs as well.
Before carrying out the targeted removal of dogs in the village, Uggah assured that they will get the permission of the village heads because they know the owners of certain dogs and can identify the strays.
He appealed to the public in these two areas to cooperate with the committee to ensure the success of this operation.
He also advised the public not to remove dogs from these two areas because there will be roadblocks to stop them from doing so, so as to ensure that the vaccinations will be comprehensive.
Uggah said the operation, which will last until March 10, will be conducted after the rabies outbreak in Sarawak had been declared a Level II Disaster by the National Security Council last month.
“For this operation, the funding, vehicles and manpower are all in place. We hope this strategic and coordinated approach will be effective in trying to reduce the number of rabies incidents in Sarawak.
Some 450 people, excluding the drivers, will be involved in the operation.
Minister of Local Government and Housing Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian was also present.