Ministry wants to focus on wellness programmes

Star: PETALING JAYA: The Health Ministry is not about to go around checking what Malaysians eat in its efforts to curb unhealthy eating habits – instead, it is focusing on a wellness programme.
Its director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said: “We are not going to go around checking what people eat. It is impractical. And putting a stop to fast food advertisements is to influence the younger set of Malaysians, the children.
“If we ban the advertisements early, then the children might not pick up the habit. But education of the masses is the key.”
Dr Ismail said that presently, the ministry’s programmes focused on promoting wellness rather than being illness-oriented.
“It is still the people’s choice. The consumer has to decide and for us, it is either scaring them enough into taking care of themselves or giving them enough information.
“We can try anything starting from the schools and we are getting feedback from various people like the NGOs to use new ways in educating people,” he said.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek had earlier proposed that fast food commercials be banned and that he would bring the issue concerning fast food, said to be a “silent killer”, before the Cabinet next week.
Meanwhile, Chan Chin Nam, 42, a father of three young children, is far more worried about the unregulated content of hawker food, noting that the unhealthy points of fast food had long been recognised.
“You don’t know what the chef is doing to your food, what he puts in it,” he said when met at a café during lunch yesterday.
Businessman Lim Siang Boon, 45, said eating kuih, local desserts and junk food was considered “normal” as everyone ate them too when he was growing up.
He, however changed his habits after being diagnosed as a diabetic and now.