Non-Communicable Diseases, Obesity Main Health Scourage Affecting Malaysians

SIBU (Sarawak, Malaysia), Nov 23 (Bernama) -- The government is concerned that non-communicable diseases and obesity are now the main health scourge affecting the people. As a matter of fact, Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai said, the diseases were preventable if the people had the committment and discipline to lead a healthy lifestyle. "Non-communicable diseases are diabetes, hypertension, heart problem and high chlorestrol. "About 60 per cent of patients in our hospitals nationwide died of heart attack or diabetes, beside cancer," he said, adding that more than half of the country's population, aged over 18, suffered from hypertension. He said this at a media conference after declaring open the Rajang Park 1Malaysia clinic here on Tuesday. According to statistics from the World Health Organisation, about 36 million people worldwide died of these diseases annually, and the figure was expected to increase by 17 per cent in the next decade. On obesity, Liow said Malaysia had the highest obesity rate among its population in South East Asia and ranked sixth in Asia. He said the ministry was currently launching a nationwide campaign to alert the people of the dangers of the diseases and how to prevent them. "We have also called for a meeting with food producers on how to cut down on suger and fat contents in their products." On another issue, Liow said it was a cause for concern for the government that between 2008 and August this year, 1,441 doctors had left the government service, mainly to take up private practice. Nevertheless, he noted, what was important was that the country was currently able to train between 3,500 to 4,000 doctore annually, as compared to only 1,000 in 2005. -- BERNAMA Malaysia