Don't allow sick children into nurseries, operators told

Monday, June 27, 2016

By Olivia Miwil
olivia@nst.com.my

KOTA KINABALU:Operators of child care centres are advised not to accept sick children to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, said district health officer Dr Jiloris Dony.

"Parents are urged not to send their sick children to nurseries as others will be easily infected.

"The measure is also to control diseases outbreaks such as hand, foot and mouth (HFMD) which afflicts young children," he said.

To date, the health department had visited and briefed 33 nurseries here about the preventive measures which include isolation and concurrent disinfection.

  

He said nursery operators had the rights to reject children who had runny nose and coughing, red eyes, diarrhea, chicken pox, measles, mums, fleas, or other more serious diseases such as HFMD and H1N1.

Jiloris said the department would also issue letters through operators to advice parents and seek their cooperation.

According to the department’s epidemiology bulletin, there are 1, 326 HFMD had been reported as of June 18.

The statistic saw an increase of 29.4 per cent as compared to 1,025 cases in the same period of last year.  

Kota Kinabalu has highest cases of 391, followed by Penampang 199, Tuaran 155, Tambunan 81, Tawau 75, Putatan 63, Sandakan 53, Beluran 47 and Sipitang 46.

Last week, the Health Ministry has placed the country under alert level following unusual increase number of 

HFMD cases with Selangor, Johor and Kuala Lumpur topping the list.

A directive was issued in early May to all state health departments to step up monitoring and preventive efforts.