GEORGE TOWN, Sept 21 – Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng hold a press conference today at Komtar said the order to culled all the strays dogs is to protect the safety and health of the public. He said we don’t wait till the disease get happen and get blamed from the public saying us didn’t take step to prevent the disease.
“Penang was not the first state which the cases of rabies was first detected in the state of Perlis on 17 August after approved by the Veterinary Research Institute (VRI) and it has now spread to Penang on 14 September. Penang was the third state which been effected in this disease,” said Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.
“In the same time, I hope that Penang Gerakan chairman, Teng Chang Yeow don’t turn the rabies issues to politics issues which saying previously state government did not kill the dogs but just kill the pigs to save lives. Please don’t mess around in this issue, this was a serious issues which may causes the safety of public,” he said.
In the same time, there were also a third person in Penang which a senior citizen to be bitten by a stray dog that been making it to be the third case in the state amid the rabies scare. The incident has been confirmed by the state Health Department through an announcement made by its director Datuk Dr Zailan Adnan.
“The third case in Penang was from Balik Pulau which the citizen been bitten from the stray dog are 65-year-old man on Sept 18 but our department is yet to ascertain whether the disease is spreading to human beings,” she said in a press conference here in Komtar today.
There were two cases of two individuals being bitten by stray dogs in Penang with one being on the Seberang Prai Utara and the other also in Balik Pulau on the island. She said that this was because the disease could only be detected between 30 and 60 days after an individual was bitten. Also were present the state Veterinary Services Department director Dr Siti Salmiyah Tahir.
