Ministry to study tax on soft drinks

The Star

BY LOH FOON FONG

KUALA LUMPUR: A “sin tax” that will see higher prices for sugary drinks is being studied by the Health Ministry as a measure to address the high number of diabetics in the country.

Health director-general Datuk Seri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the ministry would come up with some evidence from a study in two months’ time.

He said soft drinks and other sweet beverages in the market contained high sugar content. Reducing people’s exposure to them was one strategy to address the high number of diabetics.

“We will look at the sugar content in these beverages and see what other countries are doing about it and how best we can implement some of these measures,” he told a press conference after the official opening of the 5th National Diabetes Conference 2014 yesterday.

Dr Noor Hisham said the ministry was also thinking of discouraging sweet drinks at ministerial meetings, starting with its own ministry.

Among the countries which have implemented fiscal measures on sweet beverages were Denmark, Hungary and Mexico, which had increased the prices of sweetened beverages or added a “sin tax”, he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said Malaysia was spending 4.6% of its gross domestic product on healthcare and was concerned whether this was sustainable in view of the high number of non-communicable disease (NCDs) complications.

“Most important is the need for a change of mindset among Malaysians,” he said.

He said 2.6 million or 15.2% of adults aged 18 and above in Malaysia were diabetic.

“Each of them faces a higher risk of diabetes related complications such as heart attack, stroke, peripheral vascular disease, kidney failure, loss of vision, nerve damage, coma, and diabetic foot that could lead to amputation.

“While such complications can be prevented, if not delayed, their prevalence is high,” he said.

More than 60% of diabetics die from blood vessel diseases, 40% from heart attacks and about 15% of heart failure and 10% from stroke, he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said the root source of such fatalities was patients’ lack of willingness to practise good diabetes management. He also said health professionals should help patients overcome their limitations and counsel them.

The current status of diabetes management in Malaysia was still not satisfactory, with a study revealing that only a third of over 6,000 people with diabetes saying they were taught proper diabetes management, he said.

Of sleepless game nights and fake MCs

The star

BY LOH FOON FONG

KUALA LUMPUR: The current World Cup is expected to be no different from the last two editions when more than 55% companies indicated productivity loss in the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) surveys.

Deputy Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya said for the current tournament in Brazil, fans will want to watch the matches live, which are broadcast at unearthly hours.

“As a result, workers suffer insufficient sleep and become less productive at work,” he said at the Medical Absenteeism – Whose Responsibility? seminar here yesterday.

He said MEF also estimated that the country incurred losses of up to RM8bil a year as a result of fake medical leaves. “This needs to be addressed,” he said.

“Many go to clinics, take medical leave and then do their own thing such as engage in business or even travel overseas,” Dr Hilmi said, adding that there were about 12 million employees in the public and private sectors.

According to MEF, employers jointly suffered 26.3 million person days lost a year due to sick leave, he said.

Its nationwide survey found that employers cumulatively paid out an estimated RM8.12bil for the medical problems of the 6.5 million private sector workers nationwide.

Dr Hilmi said this posed a challenge as the country aspired to be a high-income nation.

“Employers forked out some RM3.3bil to settle medical bills,” he added.

At the seminar, some of the speakers highlighted that common causes of absenteeism were bullying, harassment, burnout, stress, low morale, childcare and eldercare, depression, illness, injuries and job-hunting.

Dental association to appeal over its de-registration

The Star

BY LOH FOON FONG

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Dental Association is drafting an appeal to the Home Ministry over its de-registration by the Registry of Societies (ROS).

The MDA announced on its website that it received a de-registration notice on June 6, saying activities in relation to the association would be suspended immediately until further notice.

“We are making every possible effort to resolve this unprecedented crisis,” said its president Dr Teh Tat Beng.

He believed the de-registration might be technical, and “somewhat related to the proposed purchase of a building”.

“However, we regret that we cannot comment in detail pending the appeal to the authorities,” he added.

Dr Teh urged the public to bear with the association as it tried its best to resolve the predicament so that it could continue to pay its staff and service the public as well as more than 4,000 members throughout the country.

At MDA’s Annual General Meeting on May 31, the association was directed to defer the purchase of three adjoining shoplots in Kelana Jaya, Selangor, and to come up with a new set of resolutions to approve and purchase a building that was within its financial means.

The AGM also mandated the MDA council to convene an EGM to come up with appropriate resolutions on the purchase of what is to become the new MDA building.

According to a notice dated June 5 on MDA’s website, the association was scheduled to hold an extraordinary general meeting in Kuala Lumpur on June 22, but this was cancelled.

Limited training slots available for medical grads

The Star

BY LOH FOON FONG

Cause for concern: Dr Adeeba is concerned that top students are sent abroad to universities of much lesser ranking than local medical schools.

PETALING JAYA: Medical students who slogged through their five-year year programme may just find that places are limited in the training hospitals.

Senior doctors foresee that a selection process might be imposed on medical graduates in the near future in view of the high number of 5,000 graduating each year.

Students may stand a better chance of getting into the limited number of training hospitals as housemen if they graduate from better ranking schools.

Training hospitals, where graduates planning to practise locally have to undergo housemanship, could only cope with about 3,000 new housemen each year.

Healthcare sources said that about 4,000 to 5,000 medical students would graduate annually, with more than half returning from overseas.

While those graduating from local universities, especially public universities, and established overseas universities have fewer issues entering the healthcare system, those graduating from foreign universities with a poor track record might face difficulties.

Universiti Malaya Medical Faculty dean Prof Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman (pic) said the Malaysian Medical Council was considering introducing a common licensing examination for all graduates to ensure that only those with adequate training were given positions in these hospitals.

“There may not be enough houseman and medical officer posts. The Health Ministry may select those from schools with a proven track record,” she said.

A source said training hospitals in the Klang Valley, for instance, were accredited with multiple private medical schools, as well as some public universities, resulting in doctors being overstretched and too many students practising on patients.

He said the Cabinet should reduce the number of programmes and the number of students entering local medical schools by 70%.

Dr Adeeba said funding bodies too need to be selective and send students only to better ranking schools.

“My concern is that our top students are being sent abroad to universities of much lesser ranking than local medical schools,” she said.

Dr Adeeba said that while the various authorities need to do proper human resource planning, parents should wake up to the fact that there would not be adequate posts for doctors in government hospitals and hence, should not push their children into studying medicine if they did not have the aptitude for it.

She cited a number of students who struggled with the demands of the five-year programme, which they had no interest in.

A senior doctor, who declined to be named, said the situation would only get worse each year if nothing was done.

The Cabinet, he said, should start capping the number of students entering medical schools.

Proposed tougher entry requirements for aspiring doctors

PETALING JAYA: The minimum entry requirement into medical schools may be increased to all As or a combination of As and Bs for Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia and Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia students.

Sources from the Malaysian Medical Coun­cil said the ministry and the Education Ministry were looking into making that proposal to overcome the huge number of medical students graduating each year, thus over-taxing training hospitals.

“The move to increase the minimum qualification is not too drastic because each year there are 14,000 to 14,500 SPM students scoring all As and 400 to 500 of them scoring all A+,” a source told The Star.

For now, the minimum requirements are Bs in Science and Mathematics for SPM and STPM.

According to the source, the ministry acknowledged that the large pool of medical graduates had raised concerns whether there were adequate number of instructors and training hospitals for them.

There were also complaints that some private institutions brought in expertise from other countries that could affect the quality of students, he said.

By increasing the minimum criteria, the source said better quality doctors would be recruited.

The five-year moratorium on establishing new medical schools until end of 2015 would likely continue after the deadline, the source said.

Another source said that the ministry hoped to remove the list of accredited foreign medical training institutes in the Medical Act and impose a medical licensing examination for medical graduates returning from overseas.

Currently, under the Act, only students in unrecognised foreign medical schools are subjected to the Malaysian Medical Council’s qualifying examination.

Cochrane comes to Malaysia

The star

BY LOH FOON FONG

The world-renowned Cochrane Collaboration, which produces credible and accessible health information, recently launched the Malaysian Cochrane Network locally, paving the way for more evidence-based treatments in our healthcare system.

According to Cochrane CEO Mark Wilson, the Malaysian Cochrane Network was officially formed as a branch of the Australasian Cochrane Centre last September.

It is made up of five network sites: Universiti Malaya, Penang Medical College (PMC), Universiti Sains Malaysia, the Research and Technical Support Programme of the Health Ministry, and Melaka Manipal Medical College.

Cochrane is a global independent network of health practitioners, researchers, patient advocates and others in 120 countries working together to produce credible and accessible health information in the form of Cochrane reviews.

Cochrane reviews are systematic reviews that pool together and evaluate the results of similar clinical trials worldwide. These trials usually look at the efficacy and safety of various new drugs, devices or other forms of medical treatment or diagnosis.

“Now that we have the network, we must work at ensuring that health care workers incorporate the findings of Cochrane reviews into the decisions they make about patient care,” said Malaysia Cochrane Network convener Prof Dr Jacqueline Ho.

Speaking at the ceremony officiated by Health deputy director-general Dr Shahnaz Murad in Kuala Lumpur, the PMC deputy dean of academic affairs added that there are now 220 clinicians and researchers in Malaysia who have written a total of 70 Cochrane reviews.

Prof Ho, a paediatrician and long-time Cochrane author, also said that these reviews could be used by policymakers, clinicians and patients to make evidence-based decisions about their health.

Patients, in particular, could be more empowered to participate in the decision-making process on effective treatment choices.

“We hope that the public understands the importance of the Cochrane reviews and make use of the findings for their own health and wellbeing,” she said.

“A systematic review summarises the results of available carefully-designed healthcare studies and provides a high level of evidence on the effectiveness of healthcare treatments and drugs,” he explained.

He said that Cochrane review results can, for instance, help the Health Ministry in making better choices in buying medicines and health devices, based on high-quality, relevant and up-to-date synthesised researches.

Members of the public interested in reading non-technical summaries of Cochrane reviews can visit summaries.cochrane.org. Meanwhile, healthcare professionals in Malaysia will be able to access The Cochrane Library online (www.thecochranelibrary.com) for free for one month beginning May 28.

'Lack of predators cause moths to thrive'

The star

BY LOH FOON FONG AND RAHMAH GHAZALI

PETALING JAYA: A lack of predators such as caterpillar-feeding birds could have led to the sudden swarm of giant moths in Kuantan and other parts of the country, said an expert.

Calling it “unprecedented” and “abnormal”, Universiti Kebang-saan Malaysia entomologist Dr Norela Sulaiman said the “invasion” by giant tropical swallowtail moths (Lyssa zampa) could be a “one-off occurrence”.

“I believe there is a lack of predators such as birds which usually eat the catterpillars,” said Dr Norela.

Entomological Society of Malaysia president Prof Dr Idris Abdul Ghani said the “invasion” could also be due to the large availability of food plants.

“At the same time, it could be that their natural enemies, such as parasites and other pathogens, are not active enough to harm them and they thrive,” he said.

Asked on reports that the moths had congregated at the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC), he said there could be host plants in the nearby Bukit Nenas forest reserve.

“The bright lights in KLCC could have attracted them there.”