The Ministry of Public Health is checking health-related laws and regulations to ascertain whether penalties can be taken against property-owners who, through negligence, allow mosquito breeding grounds to exist in their houses or house compounds.
Public Health Minister Piyasakol Sakolsattayathorn said Wednesday that health officials in all provinces had been told to inform members of the public to do three things: to keep their houses in order and tidy; to collect garbage and to get rid of breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes, he said, are carriers of three serious diseases in Thailand, namely dengue, Zika and Chikungunya.
He suggested that every householder must be responsible for taking care of their own property to ensure that there are no mosquito breeding grounds.
Piyasakol added that legal experts of the ministry have been asked to study whether any penalties could be taken against those who allow mosquito breeding grounds to exist in their households.
“If mosquitoes from your house bite me in my house and I am infected with Zika or dengue, can I sue you?” the health minister questioned.
