GEORGE TOWN: Two former policemen attached to the detention centre at the Bayan Baru Central Police lock-up here have been found to have contracted tuberculosis (TB).
This sounded the alarm bells for Penang police chief Datuk T. Narenasagaran who sent 63 police personnel at the detention centre for intensive health screening for TB. He also called for detainees to be screened for contagious diseases.
This comes after a 61-year-old police sergeant, who worked at the lock-up for six years as a supervisor, was diagnosed with TB.
Just three months after his retirement last February, he sought treatment at a clinic in Baling after suffering persistent cough and weakness.
Last month, a lance corporal from the same unit displayed similar symptoms and he went for treatment at a clinic here. The lance corporal, who retired a year ago, was confirmed to have contracted TB.
Both affected personnel were tasked with the management of detainees and had carried out procedures such as body search, detention cell inspections and escorting of detainees.
Following the detection, two police officers and 61 rank-and-file police personnel of the lock-up who worked in closed proximity with the two affected policemen were screened for TB for over six hours by medical personnel on Friday.
At the end of the session, 13 rank-and-file personnel including six policewomen were put on the disease suspicion list and told to undergo further tests.
Narenasagaran told theSun that medical personnel were called in to test the lock-up personnel for the disease on Friday as a pre-emptive measure.
“The 13 personnel were suspected of being infected and further testing is ongoing. We do not have any confirmed results if they have TB,” he said.
“As TB is an airborne disease, we are unable to say where the two retired personnel had contracted the disease. They could have contracted it elsewhere but they were attached to the central lock-up which sees all kinds of detainees including foreigners being held at the place.
“Some of the diseases that were eradicated in Malaysia are making a comeback. Our suggestion is that everyone who enters police lock-up should be screened medically if they have any contagious disease.”
He suggested that they be quarantined or sent to a hospital for treatment if they were found to have contagious diseases.
“Police personnel do not have the knowledge to assess if someone has a communicable disease or otherwise. This has to be seriously looked.
“It involves human lives, more so law enforcement personnel who are at a higher risk of exposure to contagious diseases,“ he said.
Narenasegaran said police would seek the assistance of the Ministry of Health for screening of detainees by medical personnel. He said periodical screening on police lock-up personnel would also be conducted.
