Materia Medica Malaysiana

Govt To Relaunch Nationwide Health Awareness Campaign

KOTA BELUD, Nov 8 (Bernama) -- The Health Ministry will relaunch a nationwide health awareness campaign, this time targeting a wider section of society including those at the grassroots level, Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek said Monday.

The previous campaign had not been very effective because it was more like "preaching to the converted", he said.

"The previous campaign seemed to be targeted at those who already understood the importance of taking care of their health," he told reporters after launching the Kota Belud Hospital's haemodialysis unit here.

"We need to promote healthy living among the population so that they too would do their part in taking care of their body, and not merely depend on doctors to treat them when problems arise," he said.

Dr Chua said the new campaign would be more informative for the people, including details such as the food they need to take or avoid, the amount of exercise they had to undergo each week, how much rest the body needs as well as ways to handle stress.

"There are many people who take things for granted, thinking that all these things would come automatically and they need not be informed about it," he said.

Dr Chua said the government could not go on providing healthcare and treatment facilities without care for its prevention.

"That is why we need to promote healthy living among the people," he said.

Dr Chua also spoke of the need to install more dialysis machines in rural areas as compared to towns or cities.

"As we see it, in towns or cities there are many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that are helpful enough and set up haemodialysis centres of their own. We seldom see this type of initiative in the rural areas," he said.

There are about 10,000 kidney patients in the country, of whom 40 per cent receive dialysis treatment in government hospitals, 35 per cent in centres set up by the NGOs and another 25 per cent from the private sector.

In his speech, Dr Chua said more haemodialysis units would be set up in governments hospital in the country.

"We plan to equip 45 government hospitals with haemodialysis centres by next year. Of these, 35 are already completed while the remaining 10 units would be ready by the middle of next year," he said.

The RM500,000 unit for the Kota Belud Hospital is equipped with four dialysis machines for use by 22 kidney patients in the district.