Sarawak formulating more effective programmes on rabies

Sarawak is formulating programmes to deal with rabies more effectively next year, said Deputy Chief Minister Douglas Uggah Embas (above).

He said once completed, the programmes, formulated based on the state's experience over the last three years, would be presented to the state's cabinet for endorsement.

“We hope to implement it as soon as possible,” he said in a speech at the appreciation night for all agencies and relevant parties involved in rabies operations for 2019 last night.

Uggah, who is also the chairperson of the State Disaster Management Committee, said one of the programmes was to create ‘immune belt’ along the Sarawak-Kalimantan borders.

“There is some evidence that shows a lot of rabies cases happened on the other side of the border,” he said.

Uggah said the rabies operation in the state had cost RM22.9 million, of which RM6.9 million came from the federal government.

“Sarawak targets a zero human casualty rate by 2021 and zero rabies positive cases by 2025,” he added.

- Bernama