Liow: Check for ‘silent killers’

Star: PUTRAJAYA: Millions of Malaysians will be encouraged to report regularly to government clinics for health counselling from next year.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said health checks and counselling on a one-to-one basis to prevent or control conditions like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and obesity would be available at the clinics by then.
Currently, one in four deaths in government hospitals can be traced to such conditions, known as silent killers.
“The ministry encourages the people to come to the clinics when they are healthy. Please do not wait until you are sick.
“It is best if you can come as a family,” Liow said in an interview here, adding that such visits would be on a half-yearly basis or once a year, depending on the person’s condition.
Government hospitals and clinics treated 23 million outpatients and two million inpatients yearly, Liow said, adding that preventive measures like health checks and counselling would help to reduce the incidence of people falling sick.
He said it was alarming when people told him that they did not know the meaning of high blood pressure and never had their pressure taken.
He said two thirds of the estimated five million Malaysians with high blood pressure were not aware of their condition.
The ministry’s statistics found that 43% of Malaysians aged 30 and above were prone to high blood pressure.
Apart from that, 60% of Malaysians had weight problems, 30% were overweight and another 30% were listed as obese based on the Asia-Pacific Body Mass Index guidelines.
Liow said 200 nutritionists would be employed for the 800 government clinics in stages, adding that he would present a paper on its implementation to the Cabinet soon.