Have more family medicine specialists

I refer to the report “More heart centres on the cards” (NST. Feb 7) quoting Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek. It is certainly worrying to see the ballooning prevalence of “lifestyle disease” in Malaysia, such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity. This is hardly surprising given the sedentary lives that most Malaysians lead today. According to the 1996 National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) II, the prevalence of sedentary lifestyle in Malaysia was 70 per cent. Only 11.6 per cent of adult Malaysians exercise regularly. While we are busy planning to build more heart centres, which would not come cheap, we should not forget the more cost-effective way of managing these conditions – by reinforcing primary and secondary prevention through quality healthcare service.