PUTRAJAYA, July 14 — One million recipients of the Skim Peduli Kesihatan for the B40 group (Peka B40) have undergone free screening for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) since its launch in April 2019 until July 6, said Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa.
She said the individuals underwent the screenings for early detection of NCDs and their risk factors such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels in the blood, obesity, depression, anxiety and cancer.
“Around 400,000 or 40 percent of them now know about this silent disease and they have been referred for further treatment to prevent them from experiencing serious complications,” she said in a statement today.
The Peka 40 scheme offers four benefits to recipients, including free health screenings in government facilities and private clinics registered for the programme, and health assistance involving 10 categories of free medical equipment costing not more than RM20,000, such as cardiac stents, intra-ocular lenses, and artificial joint implants, throughout their lifetime.
The two other benefits are Cancer Treatment Completion Incentive (CTCI), which offers financial incentives to motivate low-income cancer patients to complete their cancer treatment, and Transport Incentive of up to RM500 (peninsular Malaysia) and RM1,000 (Sabah and Sarawak) yearly for every disease diagnosed.
Dr Zaliha said until today, more than 50,000 recipients of Peka B40 have benefited in terms of health assistance, involving equipment worth RM110,000,000, while 7,000 recipients benefitted from the CTCI programme, while 2,000 others received the Transport Incentives.
“The Health Ministry is grateful to the 3,100 private medical clinics, 990 public clinics, 170 private laboratories, and 140 hospitals under the ministry for their continued support of these programmes for the B40 group,” she said.
The Peka B40 is a government initiative aimed at meeting the health needs of low-income groups, focusing on non-communicable diseases.
— Bernama
