NEA staff tells resident complaining of mosquitoes to double-check because no reported dengue cases yet

Singapore — A member of the public took to social media to highlight a mosquito concern yet received an unsatisfactory reply from a National Environment Agency (NEA) staff regarding the complaint.

“So there has been a ton of mosquitoes, and I’m always the one who gets attacked the most,” wrote Caterina Tan on Complaint Singapore Facebook page on Wednesday (Jul 28).

Although the resident has been getting rid of stagnant water proactively, she noted that the mosquitoes could be flying in from other sources.

She sent feedback to NEA through the OneService app and attached photos of the mosquito bites she received.

Ms Tan then shared the conversation she had with the NEA staff who took her call.

“Are you sure it’s a mosquito? Some people can’t tell the difference between a mosquito, and there’s another type of bug that looks like a mosquito but isn’t a mosquito,” said the staff, as quoted by Ms Tan.

“Also, there hasn’t been any cases of dengue in your area yet, so why do you say that there are so many mosquitoes?” the staff allegedly added.

Despite Ms Tan attaching photos of the mosquito bites, the staff said, “It just looks like a mosquito but isn’t a mosquito, and it doesn’t bite, but people think it’s a mosquito.”

The staff eventually informed Ms Tan that someone would be sent over to look at the drains.

“Okay, so if there aren’t any dengue cases yet (it equals) no mosquitoes,” said Ms Tan. “Because no cases (it equals) no mosquitoes.”

“But at least since I complained, I haven’t been bitten since by the mosquitoes, so that’s good,” said the concerned individual.

“However, telling me that it’s not a mosquito when it clearly is a mosquito made me rather annoyed.”

Ms Tan highlighted in a comment that she had tried submitting the complaint through the OneService app and received an automated response that the issue had been resolved.

Meanwhile, others provided ways for Ms Tan to handle the situation independently, such as using lemongrass oil, installing certain plants or mosquito coil.

The Independent Singapore has reached out to Ms Tan and NEA for a statement. /TISG