The Ministry of Health (MOH) is targeting 1.5 million people aged 40 and above to undergo health screening by the end of this year.
Health Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar said the initiative was implemented to increase public awareness on the importance of regular health screening as well as increase the participation of the target group.
“The MOH needs the involvement of Malaysians aged 40 and above who have never undergone health screening or have not undergone screening for a long time, to be screened from July to December 2022.
“There are many Malaysians who still do not undergo periodic health screening. It is now estimated that 53% of Malaysian adults have not undergone health screening in the past one year.
“MOH data shows that more and more Malaysians are suffering from Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) such as hypertension, high blood pressure, and heart disease. It is now estimated that 1 in 5 adults have diabetes, 3 out of 10 adults have hypertension, and 4 out of 10 adults have high cholesterol levels “, he said in a press conference in conjunction with the launch of the Perak Agenda Nasional Malaysia Sihat Tour (ANMS) and National Health Screening Initiative, here yesterday.
The ANMS introduced by the MOH was launched by the Prime Minister on 11 November 2021. ANMS is the national agenda to make Malaysians healthy and prosperous. Perak has been selected as the first state to launch ANMS in the Sultan Azlan Shah Circle in Meru.
This National Health Screening initiative was made possible with the cooperation of the MOH’s main strategic partners, namely ProtectHealth Corporation and the Social Security Organization (SOCSO).
According to Khairy, ProtectHealth offers a Health Care Scheme for Group B40 or PeKa B40, while SOCSO provides health screening facilities for eligible contributors under the Health Screening Programme.
“This programme will be held in public areas such as shopping malls to make it easier for the public to undergo health screening.
“Private clinics involved in the PEKA B40 programme are asked to extend the outreach programme to rural areas with mobile clinics joined by health workers to conduct health screenings at community halls, mosque grounds or areas that are easily accessible to the public.
“The screening results will be stored and updated into the MySejahtera app after obtaining permission from the MOH in line with MySejatera’s two new features, namely electronic health records and digital children’s immunisation certificates.
“This is the MOH’s first step to use the MySejahtera platform for the digitisation of health information that has been stored manually. We also plan to digitise various things related to health in the future such as health records, health appointment booking and more ”, he said.
by Rosli Mansor
