Women play big role in family’s health

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AIM FOR A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE: Lee (seventh left), flanked by Ruby (right) and Kijan, witnesses the invited guests and organising committee members firing the confetti to start the talk.

MIRI: Women play an important role in ensuring the overall health of their families, which consequently contribute towards the creation of healthy Malaysian societies.

As such, women, who traditionally prepare food for the families, must have greater awareness on the need to prepare healthy meals, one of the important factors in preventing many diseases.

Assistant Minister of Communication Datuk Lee Kim Shin when stressing these  also said it was equally important for every individual to take care of his or her own health.

“Health should be our responsibility. Of course, when we are sick we seek medical treatment.

“Thus, women, when you have the chance, attend health talks to gain the latest information from health specialists to help reduce incidents of many preventable diseases that are on the rise,” he said.

Lee made the remark when representing the Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Energy, Datuk Seri Peter Chin in officiating at a health talk organised in Miri yesterday.

Chin was the sponsor of the half-day talk held in conjunction with the World Health Day, to create greater awareness on healthy lifestyle.

Among those present were Datin Seri Ruby Chin, the wife of the Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water, Datuk Seri Peter Chin, his political secretary Datuk Sebastian Ting, Resident Antonio Kathi Galis, mayor of Miri City Lawrence Lai Yew Son and the organising chairperson Kijan Toynbee, who is also a political secretary to the Chief Minister.

Lee commended the newly established Cultural sub-committee of the Community Development Standing Committee of the Miri City Council for organising the talk.

“This talk, which is part of the social engineering programmes of the government, should be intensified and later to include welfare programmes apart from changing the mindset of Miri for example to support the greening programme,” he urged.

He added that the government wanted the people to be progressive and positive so that they could live happily, harmoniously and in good health.

Lee cautioned that unless the people are fully aware of the importance of healthy lifestyle, many would suffer adding that the MRC’s Kidney Dialysis Centre is one of the clear examples that medical treatments are expensive.

He said 90 per cent of the 230 patients at the centre had to be heavily subsidised as they could not afford the high cost of dialysis of between RM3,000 and RM5,000 per month.

Meanwhile, some 600 ladies representing the various non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and political party attended the talk, jointly presented by two specialists from the Miri Hospital.

They were Orthopaedic Surgeon Dr Norzatulsyima Nasirud, who spoke on Osteoporosis and Gynaecology and Obstetrics, and Dr Yusmadi Abdullah, who delivered a talk on women’s cancer.