Socso offers voucherless screening

reported that about 36 million of mortality or 63 per cent of deaths worldwide were a result of NCDs.

“Employers need to emphasise the importance of health screening to prevent the loss of their valuable workforce. On top of having a cost-effective measure, we aim to have a healthy workforce that can continue to contribute to their companies’ productivity and families’ economy,” he said.

Mohammed Azman said the lackadaisical attitude of workers resulted in many of them becoming reluctant to go for health screenings.

“As they are feeling healthy, thus they assume that all is well in their bodies until it is too late,” he said, adding that workers often fall ill due to their lifestyle and poor eating habits.

He said Socso statistics revealed that since 2005, there has been a twofold increase in the number of workers with NCDs such as diabetes, high blood pressure, as well as heart and kidney problems.

“Socso believes that some intervention is needed on this matter,” he said.

He said although there were 3.4 million workers eligible for screening, less than 20 per cent of them have done so since the HSP was introduced.

“We hope with the new system more would come forward to do their screening. There is no issue of workers not being able to get the printed vouchers even if they move to another company to work as they can get the HSP voucher numbers via SMS,” he said.

He said there were about 3,600 panel clinics that conducted the HSP.

Mohammed Azman said since the new system was introduced until February this year, a total of 20,252 SMSes were sent to contributors to deliver the voucher numbers.

He also expressed his gratitude to Brahim’s for taking the initiative to participate in the new system. The company also organised a health screening programme at its premises on the launch day.

Mohammed Azman hoped more employers would come forward to follow Brahim’s lead.

He said early detection was important as some workers faced the shock of their life when they found out that they were at an advanced stage of cancer or kidney failure after they went for the HSP.

“We hope that with more awareness, these incidents could be prevented. Physical examination Blood test

• Fasting glucose

• Fasting lipid profile

• Full blood count Workers need to go for proper treatments and follow-ups if they are not well,” he said.

The new system and health screening programme were well-received by employees.

Brahim’s SATS Food Services customer services director Roslan Che Ismail, 50, said workers need to know their health status as they juggle between work and family.

He said to encourage more workers to go for HSP, the programme needs to be made compulsory for all.

“Some of them take health screening for granted and at times, they are also afraid to see the doctor,” he said.

Another worker, Mohd Sufri Sabudin, 44, said the voucherless system was useful as workers could still go for their screening if they had misplaced their vouchers.

Sufri said he lost his printed voucher once and it could not be replaced.

He was happy to have the screening programme at his office as they were often busy with work.

The voucherless HSP system will utilise a short message service (SMS) to deliver the HSP voucher numbers to the insured workers. They will receive a five-digit unique Transaction Authorisation Code (TAC) and HSP voucher numbers to registered phone numbers in the SeHAT Portal (sihat.perkeso.gov.my)

The system would also cater to eligible workers who have yet to go for the screening since the inception of the HSP.

Despite having the new system, printed vouchers which were distributed between 2013 and last year are still valid and can be used at selected HSP panel clinics.

Also present at the event were the Brahim’s SATS Food Services chief executive officer Lim Sau Siong and human resource director Yusof Awang.