Act to prevent death at NS camps: MP

Act to prevent death at NS camps: MP
19 April 2012
Alyaa Alhadjri
newsdesk@thesundaily.com

KUALA LUMPUR (April 19, 2012): Medical officers stationed at National Service camps and district hospitals in its surrounding areas should be well trained to detect symptoms of illnesses which have led to the deaths several trainees since the programme’s inception.

In making the call, Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj highlighted the latest case involving National Service trainee R. Vinoth on March 12.

“It is very important for the Health Ministry to certify the causes of deaths, in order to not risk the same thing happening again,” said Jeyakumar during a press conference at Parliament lobby. Present were Vinoth’s parents S. Raman and V. Vasantha.

Vinoth, 18, was undergoing his three-month training at the Terkok camp, which has since been closed, when he came down with high fever.

He was given outpatient treatment at a hospital on March 9, but admitted into the Sungai Siput hospital on March 11 when the fever did not subside.

He died at 10.10pm the next day and the cause of death has since been confirmed as leptospirosis, after a mortality review by the Perak Health Department on March 15.

Vasantha however said the family was only called for a meeting with the hospital on March 30, to inform them about Vinoth’s cause of death.

“When we visited him (Vinoth) at the hospital on March 11, the nurses on duty told me that he only had a normal fever, and we should not worry.

“During the meeting, when we were told the death was due to leptospirosis, I asked the doctor when they found out … they said since March 11,” she claimed, adding that the family could not afford to pay RM1,000 to obtain a post-mortem report on her son from the hospital.

Jeyakumar urged the relevant ministries to help Vinoth’s family get “closure” on the unfortunate incident by taking action to prevent such cases from occurring again in the future.

Following Vinoth’s death, the government ordered all water activities at National Service camps nationwide to be stopped. Leptospirosis is spread when water contaminated with the leptospira bacteria (commonly carried in rat urine) comes in contact with broken skin or the eyes.

According to the ministry’s 2011 Guideline for the Diagnosis, Management, Prevention and Control of Leptospirosis, those taking part in outdoor pursuits like water recreational activities and jungle trekking may be at high risk of infection.

Since the National Service began in 2004, 13 trainees, including Vinod, have died whilst in training while five others reportedly died soon after completing the programme.

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