Sabah records highest smoking prevalence in country – Stephen
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah recorded the highest smoking prevalence in Malaysia at 28.4 per cent.
Revealing this yesterday, Health and People’s Wellbeing Minister Datuk Stephen Wong Tien Fatt said smoking is one of the main contributing factors to various noncommunicable diseases such as cancer, chronic lung diseases, stroke, heart attack and many more.
“According to National Health Morbidity Survey 2015, smoking prevalence is Malaysia is at 22.8% whereas Sabah recorded the highest prevalence at 28.4%. This is alarming and promoting a healthy lifestyle must be the priority for everyone,” he said at the Gleneagles Kota Kinabalu mQuit Centre launch here yesterday.
“Of course, this effort cannot be done without the cooperation and smart partnership between government, private sectors and NGOs. Since its implementation, there are 13 private facilities in Sabah which had received the mQuit accreditation,” he added.
According to the 2015 National Health and Morbidity Survey, nearly a third of smokers had considered quitting by looking at the cigarette pack pictorial health warnings while half of smokers had attempted quitting at least once in the past 12 months.
However, many are unable to quit because of the powerful nicotine addiction that compels them to keep lighting up.
“Gleneagles Hospital is the latest addition to the list. Clients can now have more choices to go for smoking cessation services in Sabah. I’m very proud with the initiatives shown by everyone and again I congratulate each one of you. Battle against the use of tobacco is never easy but we will slowly educate people and provide assistance to them,” said Stephen.
The Gleneagles mQuit Centre offers an integrated service encompassing both public and private facilities in Malaysia.
The centre provides customized quit smoking plans, resources such as carbon monoxide breath test and advice on how to quit smoking.
There are also comprehensive follow-up sessions by dedicated healthcare professionals and nicotine replacement therapy to facilitate smoking cessation.
The Gleneagles mQuit Centre is overseen by the only resident Consultant Pulmonologist and Physician in the private sector in Sabah, Dr Arfian Ibrahim.
Working alongside Arfian is visiting Psychologist Mr Alan Oh and a team of trained Pharmacists.
Also present during the launch was Datuk Dr Christina Rundi, Sabah State Health Director, and Noel Cheah, Chief Executive Officer of Gleneagles Kota Kinabalu.
“The mQuit Centre at Gleneagles Kota Kinabalu offers smoking cessation intervention and support for the community. While it is important for us to provide high quality care and good outcomes to our patients, we do want them to remain well and healthy after they have been discharged from the hospital,” said Cheah.
“This is part of our valueadded care aimed at promoting positive changes in habits to sustain wellness and healthy living both for our patients and the wider community,” he added.
For more information on the mQuit Centre at Gleneagles Kota Kinabalu, contact the team at 088-518954 or send a WhatsApp message to 0179798888.