The daily increase of suspected severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) cases has prompted DAP leaders to suggest proactive measures for the government to educate the public about the dangers of the disease.

DAP Youth said the government should disseminate information about the disease more widely and take additional measures to protect people most at risk of infection.

Medical talk shows

Its national secretary Loke Siew Fook said in a statement today that the Information Ministry should immediately produce television programmes about the disease and arrange for frequent broadcasts o­n national television stations, including private o­nes.

"Besides informative programmes, (there should be) medical talk shows o­n Sars in which medical specialists and experts share their views about the disease (and respond to a) Q&A session for Malaysians to ask questions about how to prevent the disease from spreading in different scenarios and situations," he said.

Loke said the informative leaflets published by the Health Ministry should also be distributed in public areas, and not o­nly at entry checkpoints to the country.

He recommended that the leaflets be also made available in public areas - such as schools, hospitals, shopping centres, cinemas and banks - and distributed o­n board all public transportation.

In view of the short supply of masks, Loke said the ministry should immediately order more to prepare for any eventuality.

"As a precautionary measure, all front-line persons such as hospital and other government department staff, public transport workers, teachers and others exposed to large crowds should be given free respiratory masks and required to put them o­n."

Public servants who display symptoms of Sars should also be allowed to go o­n emergency leave, he added.

Loke said the government should have contingency plans to close all schools, as carried out by Singapore and Hong Kong, to prevent further transmission of the disease via school children.

"Although the situation in Malaysia is different and has not reached the critical stage yet, the education ministry should provide clear guidelines to all state education departments to act fast to stop schools if there are (suspected) Sars cases," he said.

Pak Lah's rep

In a separate press statement, DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang urged the Health Ministry to provide a detailed breakdown of the cases in Malaysia according to location, date of occurrence, gender, age and ethnicity.

In addition, Lim said Acting Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should appoint a special personal representative to the special national committee on Sars headed by Health Minister Chua Jui Meng.

"The representative should be tasked to ensure that there would be no residue of the denial syndrome...and to eliminate any action to stonewall and deny information o­n the disease to the public," he said.

Following Wednesday's cabinet meeting, Chua announced the setting up of a committee comprising various ministries and enforcement authorities to tackle the possible spread of the Sars epidemic.

The ministries involved are health, home, transport, information, education, culture, arts and tourism, national unity and social development, rural development and human resources. The police and immigration departments have also been coopted into the committee.

The minister yesterday announced several other surveillance measures to prevent further transmission of the disease by travellers from key affected areas such as China's Guangdong Province, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam and Taiwan.