Too few cadavers for organ harvesting, says Ismail

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: The cadaveric donation rate in Malaysia is 0.97 to every one million of the population, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican.
“At this rate, in addition to the increase of patients with chronic diseases, the waiting period for donated organs has become too long.
“Furthermore, Malaysia is far behind in its organ donation rate at 0.97 as compared to developed countries such as Spain which has a rate of 34.3 donors per one million citizens and Singapore with 5.9,” he added.
“What’s more saddening is, there are patients who could not be saved as they had succumbed to their diseases while on the waiting list,” he said after opening the new National Transplant Resource Centre office in Wisma Sejarah at Jalan Tun Razak yesterday.
Dr Ismail said the ministry was taking steps to improve on the matter.
The centre will have 15 full-time ministry officers to help manage the service.
Previously, the centre operated at the main lobby of the Kuala Lumpur Hospital with only one officer in charge.
The centre was launched in 1997 to spread correct information and increase awareness on organ donation and transplantation in Malaysia.

Brace for new wave of H1N1

Star: PUTRAJAYA: The country should brace itself for a possible second wave of Influenza A(H1N1), after reports of the disease resurfacing in the Northern Hemisphere and an alert announced by the United States.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the surveillance teams set up when the first A(H1N1) cases appeared in Malaysia were still in place and were continuing to detect and monitor all cases of the flu.
He said thermal scanners at all entry points into the country were still operating, adding that he was confident the second wave would be quickly detected and control measures put in place if it were to hit the country.
Liow was speaking at a press conference after launching his ministry’s Innovation Day celebrations here yesterday.
However, the minister said the spread of the A(H1N1) virus has slowed tremendously over the last few months, from 400 to 500 cases a day to just between 20 and 30 cases a day now.
On the 1Malaysia Community Clinics announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak during his 2010 budget speech, Liow said the ministry had already identified several locations for the 50 clinics to be opened nationwide in January next year.
He said the clinics would be run by medical assistants and offer outpatient services like dressings for wounds as well treatment for simple colds, coughs and headaches.
“There will be visiting doctors making rounds at the clinics and if the patients need more serious attention when the doctors are not around, they will be referred to the nearest private clinic,” he said.

Bowel cancer commonest in Malaysian men

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: Bowel cancer is the most common form of cancer in Malaysian men, and the third commonest in women after breast and cervical cancers.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the increasing rate of large bowel cancer among Malaysians was due to people’s affluent and sedentary lifestyles and the lack of dietary fibres and physical activity.
He said other important risk factors of large bowel cancer included chronic inflammatory bowel disease, intestinal polyps and strong family history.
“About 13.8 per 100,000 Malaysians are likely to come down with large bowel cancer each year.
“This means that we can expect close to 3,900 cases of large bowel cancer each year from the country’s population of 28 million,” he told reporters after opening the Gastro-intestinal and Liver Diseases Symposium at Selayang Hospital near here yesterday.
He said 14.5% of all cancers reported among men from 2003 to 2005 were large bowel cancer while there were 9.9% reported cases among Malaysian women.
Among the reported cases, Chinese appeared to have the highest incidence of the disease, at 28.8 per 100,000 Malaysians, followed by Indians (9.9%) and Malays (7.1%), Liow said.
“Surgery remains the mainstay of treatment although there has been tremendous progress in terms of chemotherapy,” he added.
“Malaysians are advised to consume more vegetables and fruits in their diet and to be more active physically,” he said.
Currently, there are 18 gastroenterologists in 13 Health Ministry hospitals nationwide and another 13 doctors undergoing training in gastroenterology.
“Under the 10th Malaysian Plan, if the financial situation allows, we will be in a good position to strengthen our existing services and expand to the state hospitals like in Kangar, Penang, Kuantan and Kuching,” Liow said.
On Influenza A(H1N1), he said there were 20 to 30 cases now with five patients in the intensive care unit.
“It is still a serious issue,” he said, adding that the first batch of vaccine would arrive soon.

A(H1N1): Malaysia to get 78,000 doses of vaccine soon

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will receive 78,000 doses of the of the 400,000 doses of anti-H1N1 vaccine ordered from Britain for frontliners in healthcare and high-risk group end of this month, Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said Monday.
The balance vaccine would be received by January next year, he added.
He said although the spread of the disease in the country was still under control, the situation should not be taken lightly with the United States President, Barack Obama, having declared H1N1 a national emergency in the America two days ago.
Liow said Malaysia should be prepared to face the possibility of a second wave of the H1N1, expected end of this year.
"Of course the number of H1N1 patients warded in ICU is decreasing and the death caused by the pandemic is still at 77, but this is not the end, we have to be more cautious and alert to face a second wave of H1N1 which is expected at the end of this year," he told reporters after opening a seminar on "Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases" at Selayang Hospital.
He also said the spread of the virus was still active in the country and advised the public to take the necessary precautions.

Govt hospitals in three states to use complementary treatment

Star: KUCHING: Treatment using traditional and complementary medicine will be available at government hospitals in Sabah, Sarawak and Terengganu soon.
This follows the Health Ministry’s decision to extend the integrative medicine programme to the three states.
The ministry’s Traditional and Complementary Medicine division senior officer Jaafar Lassa said the extension to one hospital each in the three states was due to an overwhelming response to the programme that was launched three years ago.
“There is sufficient evidence to suggest that traditional and complementary medicine is safe, and able to benefit patients,” he said at the two-day inaugural Malaysia International Medicine Congress which ended, here, yesterday.
“Such medicine has long had a profound impact on human medical history.”
More than 500 local and foreign participants attended the event organised by the Chung Hua Tradi-tional Chinese Medicine Study and Research Society of Malaysia.
Traditional and complementary medicine treatment is now available at the Kepala Batas Hospital in Butterworth, Penang, Johor’s Sultan Ismail Hospital and the Putrajaya Hospital.
Jaafar said the traditional and complementary medicine field should be given recognition and support to enable it to develop and expand, and offer holistic therapy.
He said the ministry had drafted a list of standards and criteria to promote education and training in the field.

RM14mil for A(H1N1) vaccine

Star: PETALING JAYA: The Health Ministry is spending RM14mil to purchase 400,000 doses of influenza A(H1N1) vaccine.
The first batch of 40,000 doses would arrive by the end of this month, said minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.
Speaking to reporters after opening GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) Global IT Centre yesterday, he said the ministry decided to purchase the vaccine from GSK as the company could meet the earliest delivery time.
Some firms could only provide the vaccine in mid-2010, he said, adding that the ministry had yet to fix the selling price per dose for the vaccine.
He had also noted previously that the vaccine would be for frontliners first such as health workers, the police and immigration staff.
Liow stressed that the public must take precautionary measures although H1N1 cases were on the decline and no deaths had been reported since Sept 16. The outbreak, he said, was still at Level 6.
Yesterday, 152 patients with influenza-like illness (ILI) were admitted nationwide while 146 people had been discharged.
Out of the 666 cases in hospital, only 4% or 27 are confirmed H1N1 cases.

Ministry restricts sale of imported dried fruits due to high lead content

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: The sale of 18 types of dried plum and prune from China, Taiwan and other Asian countries has been restricted by the Health Ministry after high degrees of lead was detected.
The foodstuff - known as asam or jeruk in Malay and kiam sui tee (salty, sour and sweet) in Hokkien which are immensely popular as tidbits among Malaysians - has been put on Level 5 alert by the ministry’s Food Safety and Quality Division under its Food Information System of Malaysia.
This means that the division would hold the products for testing and would only release them for sale if they pass the test.
The highest alert level of 6 involves an immediate rejection of a product.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said for the moment, dried fruit products by other manufacturers and distributors would be permitted to be sold locally.
“If these 18 products are found in the local market, they will be seized and sampled for lead analysis,” he told reporters after launching the ministry’s management conference here yesterday.
Lead, in cumulative amounts over time, causes nervous system disorders and distorts brain development, especially in children.
Liow said the monitoring began following a US Food and Drug Administration report on Oct 1 that alerted consumers over the dried fruit sold by the 15 manufacturers due to lead contamination.
“If a product by a manufacturer or distributor is found to contain more than the permitted two parts per million (ppm), legal action will be taken under the Food Regulations 1985,” Liow said.
The 18 products apparently had lead levels of up to 30 ppm.
Asked if any of the 18 products were being sold locally, the minister said the division was checking on this.
Meanwhile, Liow announced that former International Trade and Industry Ministry deputy secretary-general Datuk Ooi Say Chuan had been appointed Malaysian Health Tourism Council chief executive officer.
He said the council, to be launched in December by the Prime Minister, would focus on consolidating private and Government efforts in promoting Malaysia as a health tourism destination.