Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the response to the Pemandu Sihat dan Selamat (PSS) initiative remained low despite drivers paying only RM30 for a comprehensive health examination
PUTRAJAYA: Fewer than 20 commercial vehicle drivers have taken up a subsidised health screening programme since its launch last month, prompting the Transport Ministry to step up efforts to encourage drivers to take their health and road safety more seriously.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the response to the Pemandu Sihat dan Selamat (PSS) initiative remained low despite drivers paying only RM30 for a comprehensive health examination, with the Social Security Organisation (Socso) subsidising the remaining RM55.
“I was informed a few days ago that not even 20 people had participated within the one-month period that we had planned,” he said at the Transport Ministry’s monthly assembly and National Month celebrations here yesterday.
Launched on June 30 and implemented from July 1, PSS targets about 30,000 commercial vehicle drivers aged between 40 and 59 in its initial phase.
Loke said the programme was aimed at improving drivers’ health and wellbeing, particularly those responsible for carrying passengers and operating commercial vehicles.
“When we look after the welfare of drivers, we are actually looking after the safety of road users,” he said.
Speaking to reporters later, Loke said the low participation could be because the programme was still new and greater awareness was needed among drivers.
He urged drivers, particularly older ones, to undergo comprehensive health screenings to detect conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes, which could otherwise go undetected.
Loke said the initiative was also intended to address shortcomings in the existing health certification process for commercial drivers.
While health examinations have long been mandatory, drivers previously only had to submit a medical examination form certified by a doctor or clinic when renewing their vocational licences, making it difficult to determine whether a thorough physical examination had actually been carried out.
“We are not saying it was not done, but it simply could not be determined whether a thorough examination had been conducted.”
Under the new system, doctors at participating clinics will key in their findings directly into an online system integrated with the Road Transport Department’s (RTD) MySikap platform, allowing health reports to be accessed when drivers renew their licences and reducing reliance on physical forms.
The programme, launched in collaboration with the Human Resources Ministry, Socso, RTD and the Malaysian Medical Association, involves 500 participating clinics and is scheduled to run until December.
The government has allocated RM12.4 million for the programme, including RM7 million from Socso and RM5.4 million from the Finance Ministry.
At the same time, Loke said the ministry was changing the way it communicates road safety messages, particularly to younger Malaysians, with RTD partnering Monsta Studios Sdn Bhd to use animation and short-form digital content.
He said conventional channels such as billboards and television advertisements remained relevant but were no longer sufficient as smartphones and social media increasingly shaped how Malaysians consumed information.
“Our main target is children, so that awareness of safety can be instilled in them from their school days.
When we give children this safety awareness, it can indirectly change the attitudes of their parents.”
Loke said children could influence their parents’ driving behaviour by reminding them about road offences and safer practices.
He described the RTD-Monsta partnership as an “out of the box” approach that could pave the way for more public-private collaborations in communicating safety and other public-interest messages.
Loke said the ultimate goal was to encourage Malaysians to internalise road safety messages and translate them into safer behaviour.
