• 2 weeks ago
Non-communicable diseases (NCD) caused RM64bil in economic losses for the country in 2021 with many sufferers either unable to work or worse, says Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.

The Health Minister said this massive hit to the economy was based solely on only the four most common NCDs - cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory illnesses.

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Transcript
00:00The lowest income is due to the economic burden.
00:06The burden of the economy.
00:08That is to say, the human burden of the system and system,
00:11is being taken today.
00:15Even that has never been taken seriously.
00:17Under the legislation, everything has been taken seriously.
00:21RM64.2 billion.
00:25Both direct costs and indirect costs.
00:33Meanwhile, the government has advanced the growth of the economy
00:40to a level that we hope will be one that will build a second economic take-off.
00:48In the first half of the year, we have advanced 5.9% of GDP growth.
00:56But if we pay attention,
00:59if we don't take our main responsibility,
01:05which is to take care of the health and well-being of the people,
01:09while the economy is growing,
01:16we will be facing a heavy burden of business.
01:21Imagine RM64.2 billion.
01:24Total cost.
01:25Our allocation is only about RM5.24 billion.
01:33It is even bigger than the allocation.
01:36But of course, that is calculated.
01:41I don't know how much the income shows that the return on investment
01:48is the biggest burden on the country.
01:52Because for RM1 of investment, we get RM1.60 a year.
01:57But if the activity, you know,
02:02day-to-day life, healthy living, healthy eating,
02:08healthy cooking for healthy eating is RM1.
02:12Meanwhile, if you go to Macau,
02:15RM1 of investment, you only get RM6.
02:19And the activity is also RM1.
02:22The return is RM6.66.
02:28I don't understand about RM60.
02:34The point is, if I can be as simple as possible,
02:41if the government spends money,
02:44the Ministry of Health spends money,
02:47it creates a balance with anything related to salt.
02:53There is always a reduction.
02:54Salt, sugar, there is a reduction.
02:58Every RM1 that we spend,
03:01we will end up getting RM60 in return.
03:05What does it mean?
03:06It means that someone can avoid heart attack,
03:11avoid cancer,
03:14or avoid when there is hypertension,
03:19they don't go to work, absenteeism.
03:21If they go to work, presenteeism means they work,
03:23but they don't get high productivity.
03:25All of that, when measured from the point of view of RM1,
03:29or dollars and cents,
03:31it will give a return.
03:33Every RM1 that we invest in our savings,
03:37we get back RM60.
03:39That's how it is.
03:40So the benefits are clear.
03:42In this salt, it gives a big return.
03:45But if it's related to smoking,
03:50it's not that big.
03:52That's why it's easy to deal with hypertension with a reduction in salt.
03:57But smoking means,
03:59it's better not to smoke.
04:01Because once you've smoked,
04:03you're addicted,
04:04then you'll have all the problems of
04:07IHD,
04:09CBA, and so on.
04:11On the lung, on the heart.
04:12Cardiovascular accident that I mentioned earlier,
04:15and also IHD.
04:18It's very safe and it's very heart-wrenching.
04:20So it's difficult.
04:21That's why the return is not big.

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