By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, April 25: The first integrated enforcement operation against rabies in Sarawak is set to begin in Kuching from April 29 to May 3.
According to a Sarawak Public Communication Unit (Ukas) news report today, Sarawak Deputy State Secretary (Administration), Datu Buckland Bangik, stated that efforts to combat the rabies outbreak in Sarawak must be prioritised in order to meet the goal of zero rabies cases by 2030.
In accordance with this, the Sarawak government, through the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) and relevant agencies, will launch an operation in Kuching to identify pet dogs that have not been vaccinated and licenced.
“The main reason for conducting this operation in Kuching is to eliminate the rabies outbreak in Sarawak and achieve zero rabies cases by 2030,” he was quoted as saying in the news report.
Buckland made these remarks during a briefing on the preparations of the Integrated Rabies Enforcement Operation, which was held today at Wisma Sabati in Petra Jaya here.
Buckland, who is also the Deputy Chairman of the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC), informed that the operation will set the benchmark for future integrated operations to be conducted in all districts throughout Sarawak.
“When we initiate this operation, it means we need to do our best. From this operation, we will conduct a post-mortem to assess weaknesses that need to be improved and then decide whether we can expand this operation to other districts throughout Sarawak,” he further explained.
During the briefing session, he advised the agencies involved to work as a team to avoid conflicts on the day of the operation.
Also present were Deputy Director of the Sarawak Veterinary Services Department, Dr Nicholas Jenek, Chief Environmental Health Officer of the Sarawak State Health Department, Raphael Engkayau, and other government officials. — DayakDaily
