KUCHING: Kuching South City Council (MBKS) mayor Datuk Wee Hong Seng rues the low community participation in health screening despite the many health programmes that have been organised by health organisations.
He said apparently, there are still too many people who are not well-informed while not a few refuse to go for health screening because they fear knowing that they are sick.
“We always hear from our loved ones that they are better off not knowing their pain. Such denial mentality is detrimental to their condition to say the least,” Wee said at the launch of the Malaysian Medical Association’s (MMA) Health Carnival at Imperial Hotel yesterday.
Wee, who was representing Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian, noted with sadness that people only seek medical treatment if they can no longer cope with the symptoms or illnesses.
“To me, that’s too late,” he said, adding that people must be told that preventing is better than treating, which is in line with the MMA Health Carnival 2020 initiative.
The health carnival featured talks which addressed a variety of issues related to public health such as the care system for the aged and organ transplantation.
The talks, namely ‘Care for the Elderly’ and ‘Awareness of Organ Donation’ were presented by Dr Lawrence Lee Hong Khoh and Dr Lai Sien Chiak.
