SHAH ALAM: There is no need to panic over the insulin shortage, says Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.
He added that people should not panic about alternative methods being used to treat diabetes.
“Patients will get the required treatment. They will not go home without medication,’’ said Dr Dzulkefly at a press conference after launching the nation’s MyGENOME Project on Thursday (Aug 29).
He said doctors will make sure that the health of their patients will not be compromised, adding that the government is working on getting insulin from other sources.
Dr Dzulkefly added that the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) will also allow a fast track process to register the medicines that come from the new conduits.
The Malaysian Medical Association had recently voiced its concern over the use of alternative treatments, especially for those with serious health conditions, women with gestational diabetics and people suffering from kidney disease.
Meanwhile, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Chang Lih Kang said at the same press conference that the MyGENOME project is needed to provide a clearer image of the genetic variations in the nation’s multi-racial community.
Chang added that this will eventually facilitate targeted treatment as well as act as a guide for the formulation of public health strategies.
“Most of the available data on human genomics is focused on European, American or East Asian populations. Malaysia has a unique potential in the study of population genomics due to the nation’s multi-ethnic culture and heritage," said Chang.
“And the various ethnicities (in Malaysia) are poorly represented in any genomic database that we have. So, it is very important for us to have our own genome data for reference,’’ he added.
Genomics basically revolves around the study of the human gene structure, its functions as well as how it relates to diseases.
This will enable targeted therapy suitable for the patient based on his or her gene structure and even drugs can be specifically designed to stop a disease from causing more damage.
Chang said some 3,500 samples will be obtained from 10 blood banks nationwide and this is expected to be narrowed down to 2,500 health and disease-free genome samples.
He added an additional 10,000 healthy genome samples will also be harvested towards the tail end of the project. This is an important step towards the practice of precision medicine,’’ he said.
