Johor to raise diabetes awareness

Star: JOHOR BARU: Diabetes resource centres will be set up in hospitals in all districts to provide facilities to at least 50,000 diabetic patients statewide and also create awareness for those at risk.
State Local Government and Health Committee chairman Datuk Halimah Sadique said that at present there were three centres located in the hospitals at Kluang, Muar and here.
She said hospitals in the remaining five districts – Pontian, Batu Pahat, Segamat, Mersing and Kota Tinggi – would also be furnished with the facility by next year.
According to the Malaysian Diabetes Association (Johor branch), eight per cent of the adult population in the state – between 50,000 and 80,000 people – are suffering from diabetes, and half of the state’s population have not been diagnosed yet.
The functions of the resource centres include conducting lectures to create awareness, offering counselling to diabetics and providing literature to the public to enhance their understanding of the disease.
“The government can organise all kinds of awareness efforts but all these will not work if the people themselves do not change their eating habits and lifestyle," said Halimah after launching the two-day Johor Diabetes Camp in Hutan Bandar yesterday.