By Mustakim Ramli
SHAH ALAM, Oct 10 — The state government is prioritising the mental health awareness agenda by introducing the Selangor Mental Sihat (Sehat) initiative.
Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari said the initiative, which can be found in the SELangkah app, is among one of the efforts being made to help Selangorians handle mental health issues.
“The effort to raise awareness and literacy on such issues should be enlivened in the community, so as to ensure a healthy and harmonious society.
“Each of us has a role to play, to ensure mental health is preserved. Take care of those around you, and seek immediate help when needed,” he said on Facebook earlier today, in conjunction with the World Mental Health Day.
Amirudin added Selangor has been implementing its mental health awareness agenda since last year, following the Health Ministry’s report that 1,080 cases of suicide attempts were recorded.
“The police statistics recorded 336 suicide cases, as of this March, which is most worrying,” he said.
On August 30, the state government launched Sehat with a RM500,000 allocation to handle mental health issues, which have become an increasing concern since the Covid-19 pandemic began in Malaysia.
Sehat can be accessed via a special button on SELangkah’s main screen. Its various functions include mental health screening, risk screening, psychoeducational videos, the WhatsDoc portal, and mental health literary scale.
The initiative can enable users to know their mental health level through the ‘pressure scale’ early screening and self-conducted ‘risk assessment’.
SELangkah’s latest feature is a joint venture between Selangkah Ventures Sdn Bhd, Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia, and WhatsDoc Sdn Bhd.
