AS THE Influenza A (H1N1) virus spreads, I have observed that the handles of doors leading to public toilets are a possible avenue of transmission.

Most shopping malls have toilets with a main door. While it is good to have doors to keep out any stench, it would be better tohave a partition instead.

One example is IMM Building in Jurong East, which does not have main doors in its toilets. The Ministry of Health has been trying hard to educate members of the public to wash their hands, especially after visiting the toilet.

However, if you were to wash your hands and dry them, these efforts would go to waste if you had to touch a dirty door handle.

There are people who did not wash their hands, those who just rinsed them with water or those who gave their hands only a wipe with toilet paper before they open the toilet door.

There is no guarantee that everyone leaves the toilet with clean hands.

I urge the Restroom Association (Singapore) and the National Environment Agency to mandate the removal of all main doors to public toilets and to replace them with a partition instead. - Mr Raymund Koh Joo Guan

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