AEDES MOSQUITO PROBLEM (Measures to tackle)

Mr Chew Heng Ching asked the Minister for the Environment if he will enlighten the House on the magnitude of the Aedes mosquito problem in Singapore and how his Ministry is tackling the problem.

The Minister for the Environment (Dr Ahmad Mattar): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Aedes mosquito problem is still serious. In 1991, there were 2,178 reported cases of dengue fever or dengue haemorrhagic fever and six deaths. In the first eight months of this year, there were 1,964 cases and one death. For the same period last year, there were 1,417 cases.

Mosquito breeding within premises is still prevalent. In the first eight months of this year, my officers carried out some 440,000 inspections and found 4,919 instances of breeding. In other words, there were 12 instances of breeding for every 1,000 inspections. Last year, Sir, some 990,000 inspections were carried out and there were 7,273 instances of breeding. This works out to 7 instances for every 1,000 inspections.

My Ministry will continue to educate the public on the danger of the Aedes mosquito. Vector control operations have also been stepped up. Every day, some 200 Public Health Inspectors are deployed for this purpose. More stringent enforcement action was introduced this year.

In the first eight months of this year, 2,268 households with mosquito breeding within their premises were fined. Two repeat offenders were charged in court. Another 1,066 non-residential premises found to be breeding mosquitoes were also dealt with in court.

Mr Chew Heng Ching (Eunos GRC): Sir, would the Minister say that the problem is now well under control?

Dr Ahmad Mattar: I would like to say that, but at the moment I think it is still serious. Therefore, we need to get the cooperation of everyone.

Mr S. Chandra Das (Cheng San GRC): Sir, apart from the Aedes mosquito and dengue fever, is there also an increase in the number of cases of malaria? If this is so, could the Minister inform the House what preventive steps are being taken to curtail the spread of malaria?

Dr Ahmad Mattar: Mr Speaker, Sir, malaria is not a problem in Singapore today. Through effective vector control measures by the Ministry of the Environment, we are able to keep the population of Anopheles mosquito, which transmits the disease, very low. Because of this, Singapore was declared malaria-free by WHO in 1982.

All cases of malaria reported in recent years were imported cases. In other words, the victims contracted the disease outside Singapore. My Ministry will continue to be vigilant against the re-introduction of malaria in Singapore.

For the information of this House, Sir, for some years now, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have been having biennial meetings to discuss and exchange information on malaria. From 1990 onwards, these biennial meetings have been subsumed under the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Singapore (BIMS) Border Health Conference. And for the information of Mr Das, the next BIMS Border Health Conference will be hosted in Singapore in November this year.

Mr Chin Harn Tong (Aljunied GRC): May I ask the Minister two supplementary questions? (1) What is the level of public awareness of the danger of Aedes mosquito? (2) Since swing-fogging is an effective method of killing mosquitoes, why is it not frequently used to wipe out Aedes mosquitoes?

Dr Ahmad Mattar: Mr Speaker, Sir, extensive publicity on dengue fever and Aedes mosquito through the print and TV media as well as educational materials that have been widely distributed to members of the public, have indeed heightened awareness amongst the general public. And this was confirmed by results of a survey conducted recently by my Ministry. But, nonetheless, Sir, my Ministry will make special efforts to reach out to as many people as possible, including foreign maids, foreign workers, school principals, grassroots leaders, estate managers, etc. I would like to emphasize, Sir, in order to bring the disease under control we need the support of everyone.

Mr Chin is quite right in saying that swing-fogging is currently the most effective method of killing adult mosquitoes. But unless we can literally wipe out all the adult mosquitoes, those that escape will continue to breed if breeding grounds are made available. Then we are back to square one.

Therefore, in our vector control operations, emphasis is on the permanent elimination of breeding habitats. If we can deny the mosquitoes a chance to breed and multiply, we can keep the mosquito population so low that it no longer poses a threat. That is what we have done in our efforts to control malaria. We are able to keep the Anopheles mosquito population so low that malaria is no longer a problem, as I have said earlier on in my answer to Mr Chandra Das.

However, in the case of the Aedes mosquito, Sir, my Ministry finds the task a bit harder because this species of mosquito breeds mainly in homes and we cannot be present in people's homes all the time to check and make sure that there are no breedings. That is why, in order to bring the disease under control, I must emphasize, once again, that we need the support of everyone.