KUCHING: It is crucial the community makes medical checks part and parcel of their life for a healthy lifestyle.
In stating this, Women, Early Childhood and Community Well-being Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah said there are still people who do no see the importance of going for medical checks.
“The present practice is either employees take leave from their annual leave or some employers allow them to go for their medical check up but they have to go back to work once it is completed.
“But there are some employees who do not do a yearly medical check up at all. They do a check up only when they are sick. This is also true for other members in the community,” Fatimah told New Sarawak Tribune when contacted on Today (Sept 12).
She was prompted for opinion on Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s recent statement where he called on employers to give workers an additional day off to employees to undergo health screening.
As the country is slowly becoming an ageing society, Fatimah stressed it is imperative the young ones embrace a healthy lifestyle with scheduled annual medical examinations.
“We reap what we sowed earlier. Prevention, early intervention strategy following medical examination will help to lengthen the independent years and reduce serious sickness in the later stage of one’s life – senior citizen stage,” she pointed out.
Meanwhile, Union Network International – Malaysian Labour Centre vice president Mohamad Ibrahim Hamid told New Sarawak Tribune that Khairy’s suggestion was a good proposal.
He said there are three reasons why workers refrain from undergoing medical check up – they could not be excused from work and have to apply their own annual leave which to a certain extent is already minimal.
“Secondly, the employer did not provide the benefit and thirdly the workers themselves are reluctant or scared rather to know their own sickness, if any,” he said.
He also said the Social Security Organisation (SOCSO) had provided free health screening a few years ago to workers above 40 years old, and the statistics showed that the numbers going for the screening were not encouraging.
“I would urge those workers who have the benefit of health screening to go and take it up.
“This is a good benefit for early detection of sickness,” said Mohamad Ibrahim.
