33% in PeKa B40 scheme have health issues

PETALING JAYA: Some 33% of those under the Skim Peduli Kesihatan B40 (PeKa B40) have been found to have at least one non-communicable disease (NCD) unknown to them, says the Health Minister.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said they only found out about their condition when they went for health screenings under the scheme.

He said the PeKa B40 2019-20 Report showed that of the 457,462 scheme recipients, 151,729 had NCDs such as diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension and even mental issues including depression and anxiety.

“Before the screenings, none of them were treated for their conditions, let alone receive follow-up treatment,” he said when presenting the report yesterday.

According to the details, 29.8% of those screened had high cholesterol, 10.4% diabetes, 13.8% high blood pressure and 3% depression and anxiety issues.

Dr Adham said RM62.5mil was spent on the scheme managed by the Health Ministry’s not-for-profit subsidiary ProtectHealth Corp Sdn Bhd between April 15, 2019 and Dec 31, 2020, aimed at early detection of health issues among the B40 group.

Of this, he said RM38.5mil was spent on health screening benefits such as checking their health record, physical exams, mental health screenings, breast and prostate cancer screenings as well as blood and urine tests conducted at government clinics across the country.

The scheme also helped recipients get medical health equipment they needed, with RM20.9mil spent on items such as heart stents, prosthetic limbs, hearing aids, pacemakers, spinal prosthesis, bone and orthosis prosthesis, eye lenses for those with cataracts, respiratory therapy equipment and oxygen concentrator, nutritional support assistance and wheelchairs.

The scheme also allocated RM1.6mil for cancer treatment with RM1.5mil spent on subsidising travel costs for those seeking treatment.

Dr Adham said that to get more to benefit under the PeKa B40 scheme, efforts would be made to step up awareness on it.

Separately, the minister said general practitioners (GPs) administering vaccines under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme had been given 110,000 doses of the vaccine as at the end of June, which was about 30,000 more doses than the initial target.

He said ProtectHealth, which is also in charge of the private medical practitioner participation in the programme, hit its target of getting 1,000 GPs involved in the immunisation programme by the end of June.

“ProtectHealth has helped establish a total of 1,230 PPVs (vaccination centres) which could help administer 162,822 doses daily, in addition to efforts made by other PPVs under the ministry,” he said.

He said the ministry also set a target for ProtectHealth to help raise the vaccination rate to 60% before the end of August and was also looking at getting the firm to rope in NGOs to assist in the vaccination drive.

Dr Adham also said the ministry had been allocated RM24mil to run programmes to raise mental health awareness this year, adding that the government planned to embark on a “whole of society” approach to help those affected.

Remedial measures would include placing 200 counsellors at health clinics to help with early detection of mental health issues, placing family health specialists at health clinics and referring those affected to the Mentari community mental health centre for treatment.

He said thorough measures were being taken to prevent another Covid-19 outbreak at psychiatric wards, so that those with mental illnesses were not further burdened.

Yesterday, Hospital Kuala Lumpur had to stop taking new patients into its male psychiatric ward following an outbreak of Covid-19 there.

Dr Adham said it was not the first time a psychiatric unit had experienced an outbreak as a similar situation happened at Hospital Sentosa, Kuching, which specialises in treating mental health patients.