WE are all afflicted with some form of medical or emotional unease that can develop into more severe diseases at one time or another.
In a world where we are in a rush, our lives at times are more or less like being a hamster on a wheel. We can get caught up in our work, our personal “to-do” lists, and we tend to ignore our health in the busyness and chaos of it all.
I am sure you would agree that this type of lifestyle in the fast lane and disregard of our well-being is prevalent now. We might be going through it now or have experienced it in phases of our lives.
In this context, the concept of wellness and preventive healthcare is increasingly becoming important.
So what is this concept of wellness? It is a vast concept; however, to put it simply, it means to be healthy and primarily to remain in good physical and mental health.
Here, I just want to share some views on possible preventive healthcare in a publicly funded programme. The opinions are only scratching the surface as it is an extensive topic and from a layman’s perspective.
I am sure you would agree that it is primarily our responsibility to remain healthy. But, we face many pressures of modern lifestyles and work life.
Numerous circumstances sometimes hinder us from leading a proper work-life balance, perhaps due to circumstances we feel are beyond our control.
Therefore, having some form of publicly funded sustainable screening, monitoring and counselling system would be an ideal form of intervention.
An excellent traditional wellness healthcare approach was the traditional Chinese and Indian (Ayurvedic) approach that encompasses a total lifestyle.
Several years ago, I read about a concept whereby in China over a hundred years ago, a person paid the village doctor regularly when they were in good health. If a person got sick, they did not have to pay because the doctor had not done his job to keep them healthy.
The motivation was for the doctor to keep you healthy to be paid regularly. Under this approach, people would see the doctor regularly for acupuncture, herbs, diet, nutrition advice and lifestyle guidance.
This model for preventative healthcare is perhaps something that could be revisited and considered. It would obviously have to be viewed with the current day context, whether privately or publicly funded.
Perhaps primary wellness preventive healthcare centres could be set up in local communities separate from hospitals and clinics. They could provide health services, such as screenings (blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol tests), vaccinations, and counselling to name but a few.
Their sole purpose would be to monitor and advise our citizens on their health. If any health issues are detected, the persons can immediately be referred to the medical services.
This could be done in stages and with a pilot project to assess and fine-tune the concept.
Many of these wellness centres could be run by community nurses and nutritionists. They would mainly focus on screening, monitoring, and counselling.
There is already an existing widespread precedent for this wellness concept in Malaysia that works very well. This is our Ministry of Health School Dental Service (SDS).
Their primary focus is to provide public oral health services. Oral healthcare under this scheme is given to school children. This is delivered through the SDS, the final objective being that the children achieve an orally-fit status.
The delivered mode of this wellness scheme is mainly at school dental clinics, dental clinics, and mobile dental teams complemented by mobile dental clinics.
This oral care wellness programme began around the 1970s and has been very successful.
An effective oral health care system apparently helps avoid problems like diabetes, heart disease, dementia, stroke, and many other illnesses.
Just imagine if this programme did not exist, there would be an even more significant number of people with health-related issues.
The cost-benefit investment in SDS is proof that a wellness preventive healthcare system will be effective and lower health care costs in the long run.
Cost-benefit analysis can also justify government investment in wellness healthcare as it will pay dividends in the future.
Even more importantly families would be at ease with loved ones who are healthy.
It would be good if both Putrajaya and Sarawak consider implementing a comprehensive system of wellness centres.
Since the digitisation of Sarawak is now a key policy, telemedicine concepts could also be incorporated.
Sarawak has adopted the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2030. SDG Goal 3, “Good Health and Well-being”, aims to achieve universal health coverage.
The introduction of sustainable preventive health care and wellness centres would fit with SDG 3.
A healthy population is also a productive nation.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
