Materia Medica Malaysiana

e.sinchew-i.com: Cancers More Prevalent Among Chinese?

MELAKA (Wed): The occurrence of cancers is highest among the Chinese and this is believed to have something to do with the fact that Chinese mainly live in cities and towns while other races mostly live in rural areas.

A cancer specialist said during an interview with Sin Chew Daily, that the national cancer report released by the Ministry of Health recently was the first comprehensive report on the occurrence of cancers in Malaysia. Prior to that, comprehensive statistics on cancers were non-existent in the country.

The report was compiled from data collected from government hospitals, the National Registration Department and private practitioners.

The specialist pointed out that generally, only about 45% of all fatalities in Malaysia are certified by medical doctors while the remaining 55% are documented by non-medical personnel, including the police or penghulu (village chieftains), etc.

Meanwhile, he believed that due to inconvenience in rural areas, a lot of villagers do not seek medical attention and are unaware of the presence of cancers they have contracted. Some of the cancer patients pass away without leaving behind any medical record and have not been included in the statistics.

On the contrary, the Chinese living in urban areas enjoy better medical facilities and are more ready to seek medical attention whenever they fall ill.

He believed those are the major factors contributing to the relatively high occurrence of cancers among the Chinese.