A quarter of Samarahan clinic patients diabetic
KUCHING: Out of the 12,000 patients who visit clinics in the Samarahan area monthly 3,150 of them are diabetics, it was revealed yesterday.
Speaking to reporters after closing Samarahan-level World Diabetes Day celebration at Summer Mall in Kota Samarahan here yesterday, the divisional health officer Dr Nur Fatihah Oh Abdullah said individuals aged 30 to 35 years old constituted the biggest percentage of diabetics frequenting clinics in Samarahan.
The figure is a two-fold increase compared with the previous year’s figure, and she urged Malaysians to practise a more active and healthier lifestyle in order to avoid developing the disease.
“If one has diabetes, the family plays an important role in encouraging that person to practise a healthier lifestyle and eating habit so that the condition can be controlled to avoid complications,” she said.
She also mentioned that a community health promotion centre enrolled about 40 obese people in Sadong Jaya to undergo a programme to lose weight through physical activities and advice of food consumption.
“We hope to be able to reduce at least 10 per cent of the total number of obese people (enrolled in the Community Health Promotion Centre) within six months.”
She also welcomed the federal government’s move to impose sugar tax on sweetened beverages because sweetened beverages contributed to obesity in Malaysia.