Malaysia needs more dieticians — Liow

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia needs more dieticians to promote healthy eating habits among the society, Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said yesterday.

He said dieticians played an important role in motivating the people to change their eating habits and thus, create an impact on the health of the society.

“A lot of people do not practice good dietary habits; they eat anytime they like, live a very sedentary lifestyle and choose minimal movements whenever possible,” he said when opening the Malaysian Dieticians’ Association Scientific conference themed ‘Managing Diabetes: Updates For Dietetic Professionals’ here.

Malaysia currently has 500 dieticians. He said six public and one private university produced about 180 dietetic graduates a year but more would be required to meet the country’s need.

Liow said there were 288 posts of dieticians at the Health Ministry, 100 in the private sector, 50 in universities and the rest were in the food services and sports sectors. Of the 288 posts of dieticians in the ministry, only 226 were presently filled, and 65 of 137 government hospitals and special medical institutions had no dieticians, he said. “In our hospitals, the current ratio is approximately one dietician to 115 beds, but the ratio for the more developed countries is one dietician to 50 beds,” he said. Liow also said that the ministry had approved 11 dietician’s posts for health clinics in the various states this year.

“We will gradually add more dietician’s posts in the health clinics to provide the dietary care required, as we foresee the number of patients with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hypertension is rising in the future,” he said.

“If patients are not given the proper nutritional assessment, diet prescription, dietary advice and follow up, a lot of them will end up with diabetic complications.”  — Bernama