Malaysians clueless about diseases

Star: PENANG: Lack of interest and a poor reading culture has made it difficult for the Government to reach out and create better awareness on cancer although about 40,000 new cases are reported annually.
Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek said yesterday that even university and college students lacked current knowledge on how some diseases were contracted and transmitted because they did not read up on the latest health issues.
“Malaysians love watching television more but television is one of the most expensive mediums to use to spread the message,” he told reporters after opening the Malaysian Oncological Society's (MOS) Annual Scientific Meeting themed “Cancer Management Today & Tomorrow” here yesterday.
Dr Chua was commenting on whether campaigns and efforts by the Government to create better awareness about seeking early treatment for cancer were sufficient.
He said almost 80% of Malaysians started seeking treatment for cancer only when they were in the last stage of the disease.
Dr Chua said this could be due to several factors such as lack of understanding of the disease, fear and seeking traditional treatment before considering modern medication.
“This has complicated treatment and rehabilitation efforts,” he said.
Dr Chua said the construction of the National Cancer Institute under the Ninth Malaysia Plan would optimise the use of the Putrajaya Hospital for cancer treatment.
“The Government will also expand radiotherapy treatment which is now available only at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital and Kuching Hospital to government hospitals in Johor Baru, Kota Kinabalu and Penang,” he said.
The lack of government hospitals providing this treatment had resulted in the Government spending RM12mil last year in outsourcing the treatment to eight private hospitals, Dr Chua said.
He added that Malaysia was among the countries with a high number of patients suffering from cancer of the nose and larynx.
He had earlier launched the Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and Tamil versions of the HOPE handbook, which is a resource guidebook for newly diagnosed cancer patients.