JE boy sues six parties for RM1m

(Bernama) — In what is believed to be the first case of its kind in Sarawak, a 13-year-old boy who was diagnosed with Japanese Encephalitis (JE) while a boarder at Sekolah Kebangsaan (C) Sungai Menyan in Serian in 2006, has filed a suit against the school authorities.

Brisbane Itang is suing the school and headmaster for alleged negligence and breach of their statutory duties.

He has also named the Education and Health Ministries, as well as the state and Federal Governments as co-defendants. He is claiming more than RM1 million in damages.

Since the boy is a minor, his father, Itang Lang, 43, has sued on his behalf.

His lawyer, Shankar Ram, said the authorities concerned had failed to inform the parents of children staying at the boarding school, which was located next to a pig farm, of the possible outbreak of the deadly JE and the need to get them vaccinated against the disease.

As a result of the viral attack, Brisbane, then aged 10 and studying in Primary Four, sustained brain damage and is now permanently disabled, both physically and mentally, with serious neurological deficit.

He was confirmed to have contracted JE on Sept 28, 2006 when he was sent to Sarawak General Hospital here after falling ill with high fever a few days earlier.