Read the Last Sentence

http://streets.nst.com.my/Current_News/Streets/Wednesday/Stories/20091028091632/Article/index_html

This article is about the rat and cockroach problem at the restaurant I mentioned a few blog posts back. It's not exactly breaking news to me. I found the last sentence of the article to be quite interesting though.

"Also living in the area are foreigners who are unconcerned about hygiene. We need to increase our health awareness programmes," he said.

Was it really necessary to a) say something like this and b) print it in a newspaper?