Customs D-G: Officers prone to health problems

Star: KUANTAN: Customs officers are more prone to develop chronic diseases due to an unhealthy working environment, its director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Abdul Hamid said.
He said his enforcement officers were among those most likely to fall ill from heart-related ailments as a result of the surroundings and odd working hours.
“For example, most officers stationed at the Johor causeway are exposed daily to dust and work at irregular hours.”
He said that many of them also lacked sleep due to the working environment.
He said this after handing over a contribution to a state Customs officer’s widow Norhafizah Ismail in Kampung Permatang Badak here on Sunday.
Norhafizah, 32, lost her husband Abdul Jalal Abdul Rahman to cancer six years ago.
Abdul Rahman said a detailed study would be conducted on why many Customs personnel died while in service and its contributing factors.
He said they were also collecting information on the number of staff suffering from chronic diseases and the nature of the illnesses nationwide.
Abdul Rahman said that efforts were being made to strengthen the Customs Foundation to provide financial assistance to widows and orphans of former staff.
He said that all state directors had been told to submit reports on all former staff who required urgent assistance.
He said the foundation had allocated RM100,000 to help the staff but the limited fund was causing concern.
Abdul Rahman said the department would start recruiting some 1,000 personnel from next year to fill up existing vacancies.