Kuala Lumpur: The Health Ministry (MOH) will launch a National Health Screening initiative this July to detect non-communicable diseases (NCD) in this country, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said.
He said the ministry aims to provide 1.5 million people above the age of 40 who never had health screenings with free health screenings, including fecal occult blood stool testing (FOCB) for colorectal cancer and breast cancer screening at public and private clinics.
“We have now to look at the huge backlog of medical, surgical procedures that we have delayed over the last two years and one of it is health screenings.
“Our health screening numbers over the last two years just simply dropped,” he said while speaking at the 75th Session of the World Health Assembly (WHA) Strategic Roundtable on Behavioural Sciences for Better Health in Geneva, Switzerland.
According to the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS), one out of five adults or 3.9 million people aged 18 and above in Malaysia suffer from diabetes; three out of 10 or 6.4 million people have high blood pressure; and four out of 10 people or eight million people suffer from high cholesterol.
Khairy also said his ministry is considering expanding the use of its MySejahtera app for NCD, including health screening appointment bookings.
Meanwhile, Khairy also pointed out that behaviourial science is now the first line of defence in Malaysia’s health system because it played a big role in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
“If we can get the people to change the way they live, you will safeguard your healthcare system and we saw behaviourial science play an insightful role in the pandemic,” he said.
* Follow us on Instagram and join our Telegram and/or WhatsApp channel(s) for the latest news you don't want to miss.
* Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available.