PUTRAJAYA: With the Covid-19 pandemic now transitioning into an endemic phase, the Health Ministry wants to shift its focus towards the “ticking time bomb” epidemic that is non-communicable diseases (NCD).

       Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the ministry’s focus is to spread more awareness on NCDs, especially among the B40 group where knowledge on the epidemic is lacking.

       “Once the Covid-19 pandemic is under control, the Ministry can shift its focus towards the epidemic of NCD. The Covid-19 pandemic is a public health emergency, but NCD is a more long-term epidemic," said Khairy.

       “If we are infected with Covid-19, within three to four days, we will see an onset of symptoms.

       “But with NCDs, its symptoms or harm can only be seen years later. We won’t know we have them if we do not detect it early.

       "This NCD is like a 'ticking time bomb'; we know it exists but one day, it will explode. And when it explodes, it’s too late, because we have to take care and treat. And we can't do anything to prevent it," he added.

       Khairy said this at the launch of the 2020-2021 report of the Healthcare Protection Scheme for the B40 Group (PeKa B40).

       Also present were Deputy Health Ministers Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali and Datuk Aaron Ago Dagang, Health Ministry secretary-general Datuk Harjeet Singh, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah and ProtectHealth chief executive officer Datuk Dr Anas Alam Faizli.

       Khairy said although 5.9 million Malaysians from the B40 group are eligible for the government’s free health screening programme called “PeKa B40”, less than 600,000 people have taken up the offer.

       “This is why we need to refocus on managing this NCD epidemic. Our health screening initiative needs to be implemented on a grand scale.

       “We are not even in a situation where we do not have programmes, allocations or facilities for this. We have them all and it is free of charge.

       “Yet, only half a million out of six million who are eligible for this have taken up the offer.

       “So I urge the B40 group to take advantage of the free health screening scheme for early detection and prevention of NCD,” said Khairy.

       The Health Minister said out of the 582,746 people who have undergone the health screening, 186,610 people found out that they are sufferers of at least one NCD.

       “This is a huge worry because many of those who are eligible for the PeKa B40 health programme have not taken the offer up and are unaware of their own health status,” said Khairy.