By Zareef Muzammil
SHAH ALAM, Aug 8 — People need to incorporate topics on health into their daily conversation to increase the awareness of going for early screening, says state executive councillor for public health Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud.
She said this is due to many people still being afraid to undergo the state’s free health checks programme.
“The people need to understand that health is wealth, even the Islam teachings emphasised it.
“So people need to talk about health every day, especially on heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure. If this succeeds (cultivating conversation on health issues) the awareness level will definitely increase,” she said while visiting the Selangor Saring free health screening programme for Sungai Kandis state constituency at Dewan MBSA (Shah Alam City Council) in Kemuning Utama here yesterday.
Dr Siti Mariah said Selangor Saring is part of the state’s effort to increase public awareness on taking care of health.
“This (Selangor Saring) is our first year (of implementation), after this, we will do an analysis to see what other improvements should be made to encourage the people to get involved in this programme.
“If possible, we do not want the community to suffer when they are old because they neglected in taking care of their health when they were young,” she said.
