Control Yuan blasts DOH for dengue

The Control Yuan yesterday censured the Department of Health (DOH) along with the Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County governments for their failure to prevent the spread of dengue fever, which has killed 13 people this year in the worst outbreak since the 1980s.

"The ongoing spread of dengue fever cases has seriously threatened the health of Taiwan citizens. The Department of Health, Kaohsiung City Government and Kaohsiung County Government have obviously been in dereliction of duty in their failure to control its spread," said Li You-chi (李友吉), a Control Yuan member.

The censure comes at the worst possible time for DPP Kaohsiung mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and his administration, whose opponents in Saturday's city council and mayoral elections -- including KMT mayoral candidate Huang Jun-ying (黃俊英) and independent candidate Chang Po-ya (張博雅), a former minister of health -- have frequently criticized him over the spread of the disease.

According to the Control Yuan report, the DOH discontinued a program to prevent the disease which had been in place for 11 years, although it had been highly effective.

The DOH ended the program in 2000 after concluding that the number of dengue fever cases, which had declined to about 100 per year, could be contained by the nation's conventional medical infrastructure.

The report also said that the Kaohsiung city and county epidemic prevention workers were insufficiently trained and criticized both administrations for not employing their own personnel.

The report noted that between January and May of this year, there were 11 cases of dengue fever in Kaohsiung City, to which the city government paid scant attention. The disease began to spread in mid-June, but a citywide prevention plan was not proposed until August.