KUALA LUMPUR – Employees in the country have been urged to take advantage of the free health screening programme offered by the Social Security Organisation (Socso) to ensure that they are always in good health.
Caretaker human resources minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan said the implementation of the movement control order and the work-from-home policy during the Covid-19 pandemic period has limited sports and recreational activities, thus affecting the fitness level of employees.
He said that according to Socso’s statistics in 2021, 16,906 contributors became disabled or died due to non-communicable diseases such as high blood pressure, heart disease, or diabetes.
“In addition, analysis from Socso’s Health Screening Programme also found that 60.9% of workers have high cholesterol levels, 35.2% have obesity problems, 27.3% have high blood pressure, and 9.5% of workers have diabetes.
“Obesity, if not controlled, can lead to various other serious health problems,” he said in his speech at Socso’s Run & Ride 2022 programme at Dataran DBKL here.
His speech text was read out by Socso chairman Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal.
The annual event, held since 2015, returned after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic and attracted about 3,000 participants. – Bernama, October 16, 2022
