Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Two million Socso members eligible for free health screening

The Star Online


PETALING JAYA: About two million private sector employees will be eligible for free medical check-ups from the Social Security Organisation (Socso).
Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam is expected to announce the mechanism for the health screening for Socso members today.
The move will benefit workers if they contract any non-communicable diseases like diabetes and hypertension, among other things. It will also spur the workers to be more aware of their health.
The initiative, announced under Budget 2013 by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, is targeted at Socso contributors aged 40 years and above. It is believed that the free check-ups will be applicable to Socso members who are still working.
It was reported that the Federal Government had allocated RM19.3bil for healthcare and management under Budget 2013, an increase of RM2bil from the last budget.
Budget 2013 has allocated RM200mil for Socso contributors to get free medical check-ups.
Other health initiatives include sugar and urine tests offered at 1Malaysia Clinics.
Socso currently has some six million contributing members nationwide.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai had expressed hope that the Budget allocation for blood test screening and free health checks would help reduce non-communicable diseases by 10% to 20%.
He had said that the funds would help in financing programmes for the early prevention of such diseases.

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