Malaysian Medical Fees Continue to Rise

the star 22 sept 2013

The Malaysian Medical Association wants to increase the fees for specialists procedures.

The MMA is asking for a steep 30% in the fees. However it feels that the rise is not the major contributor to the medical expenses. According to MMA president, the procedure fees is only about 20% of the total cost. The main rise was caused by the practices of the hospitals, who are charging higher fees for the services and other item. The increase is justified as the cost of living has increase and doctors are faced with higher operating cost, example the insurance fees for a plastic surgeon is about rm6000 per amnum.

Another association, TPA, who medical claims for companies, believes that the doctors have been compensated enough as the number of patients has increased. As the volumes increased, the total revenue for the doctors have also increase.

TPA also claimed the total fees a patient will be paying can be 200% higher that the current rate. Beside the requested 30% increase, the groupings of the procedures have also changed. Some procedures considered minor previously are change to major.

Listen To Your Nails

Your healthy nails have a pink soft hue. By looking at them you know that they are healthy. If they are not, it can be a reason to worry about, as it can be a sign of further problem.

Nail can provide an early symptom of problems such as skin cancer and other systemic issues. If you ever experience an obvious abnormally, consult your dermatologist.

One of fear disease is the skin cancer.It can be developed in the nail bed, matrix or nail folder. One of the deadliest skin cancer is Malignant Melanoma, and its earliest symptom is a long pigment, black or brown in the nail plate, usually the thumbs or the toes.

 

Living to 100

Researches show that at least two factors that contribute to longevity and the ability to live to 100 years old.
- genetic factors,
- life style

A new research suggest that about 0.001% of the people are alive till 100 years. Among the factors are:
1. Genetic - you ask the question whether any of your relative are living to 90 years old. If you have a relative that can live to 90 years, you have a chance to become one of them. The you focus will be to control your life style.

2. Have a strong social support . Numerous studies showed that loneliness has a real negative effect on health.  Maintaining social connection such as volunteer jobs, families and friend will help to avoid the loneliness and it appears that busy people can live longer.

3. You are a moderate worrier. The more you worry the worst it become for your health.

4. You can work fast and far. The study of people above 65 years, the speed is about 0.1 m per sec.

5. You are a women. A women has a better chance to live longer compared to man. The chance is made better if you naturally conceive and have children when you are around 40 yeras old.

Stroke, Prevention is Better than Cure

Many may not be aware of the stroke risk or the factors leading to stroke.

Doctors have described these people as the walking time bomb. Just like a time bomb, it can explode anytime.

Risk Factors for Stroke are well established and include:

1.  high blood pressure (hypertension)
2. high cholesterol,
3. diabetes
4. irregular heart beats
5. Obesity
6. Smoking
7. Family History
8. Drinking

The recent survey shows that 46% of the Malaysian Adult above 30 suffer from hypertension and without proper management, making them 6 times more likely to suffer stroke. With another common disease, diabetes, a person is 4 times more likely to suffer stroke.

Hypertension - Malaysian Invisible Enemy

Hyper tension is a silence disease. About 32% of the Malaysian are suffering for the invisible disease and many of whom may not even aware of the impending problem.

Many of the population are unaware of the condition  until the day they have the heart attack or stroke. The statistics from the national health and morbidity survey shows frightening data:

- 42.6% of malaysian adult aged above 30 have hypertension.
- 64% of these people did not know that they have the problem.
- Of the diagnosed, 88% was treated and out the treated only 26% had achieved the targetd pressure of below 140/90 mmhg.

The worrying data is, about half of the Malaysian are walking with high blood pressure and 2/3 of them dont even know about it.

Understanding Blood Pressure. 
Our heart is like a pump. The pressure is measure at 2 level,
- the systolic pressure - when the heart contract to give the maximum pressure.
- the diastolic pressure - when the heart relaxs during diastole.

Care for My Joints

I am reaching 60 this year. One of my health concern is the joints. I had been on glucosamine, but had not been taking it regularly. So far so good, but I have to take care for the possibility that the pain may come.

I make it a point to update my knowledge on the subject. The contributory factors are, the sedentary life style, being overweight and pad posture. I think I am guilty of the two, the lifestyle and the posture. As I had opted to continue working, I do spend a high portion of the day time on chair.

The following are suggestions to relief the pain...

a. have a balanced rest and work. The movement will release the pain, if it gets to bad and unbearable, take your day off.
b. Hot shower or bath will help to lower the pain.

The standard medical treatment consists of aspirin, corticosteroids and anti-infllammation drugs. Unfortunately these drugs has its own side effect. It helps to prevent the natural repair and may affect liver and kidney.

The mattress can cause problem. I had opted to sleep on the hard floor, however a firm mattress and lower pillow can be as effective.

Foods for your joints
a. Glucosamine and Chondroitin are the natural substance found in the joints. It starts to loss its density and the pain will be the result. The joint foods have been popular to manage the joints and arthritis.

Heart Disease the Number 1 Killer of Women

Heart disease is becoming the number one killer of women in Malaysia. The statistics shows that the number killed by heart related diseases is 2.5 times of the number killed by all the different types of cancer combined together.

It is wrong to believe that older men or women are prone to the heart related diseases. On average, the Malaysian that are admitted due to acute coronary is around the age of 59, that is about 7 years younger than other countries. There are a number of cases of heart bypass for women as young as 19 years of age.

The statistics of the women body mass index is alarming. Malaysian women have the highest BMI index and the data suggest that the heart problem is related to obesity.  The other major contributor is the level of cholesterol in the blood stream. Sixty percent of Malaysian women have elevated level of cholesterol.

The good new is the heart diseases are preventable if detected early. As a way of promoting the awareness, the heart association is organising various exercises. The active life style makes a lot of difference.

Oat Beta-Glucan for Cholesterol Control

DIABETES EPIDEMIC IN MALAYSIA

The disease is on the rise in Malaysia. It is the single largest cause of amputation, kidney failures and blindness. If nothing is being done, the effect will be catastrophic. This is the worrying trend..

1986 -   6.3%  ( adult above 30 years)
1996 -   8.3%
2006 -   20.8%

What is more alarming, about half of the surveyed were not even aware that they have the disease. This result to improper diet and other control measures thus producing further health complication.

The disease may effect another aspect of the country. It is vision 2020, it aspires to become a developed nation by 2021, but with the high rate of the disease, it will not reflect the character of a developed nation.

Diabetes has many side effects. It can block arteries resulting to heart diseases and stroke. A blocked arteries in the legs, may lead to gangrene and amputation of the limbs. Poor disease control may cause the blockage of smaller arteries in the eyes and kidneys thus causing failure.

The key to controlling the epidemic is the diet and the life style. Regular exercise and low intake of processed sugar will help to control the level of glucose.

Suicide Cases On The Rise

The Star reported that the cases of suicide is on the rise in Malaysia. In the past 3 years, more that 1000 people had taken their own life. However the rate is still very low compared to the global average.

The Malaysian current rate is 1.3 per 100,000 person or 0.0013%. The global average is 16 per 100,000 person or 0.016%. The figure should be taken with caution, as is collated from the hospital post mortems, which means that the deaths not referred and post-mortemed at hospitals are not included in the data.

 The statistic revealed that:
- The age group id between 24 and 44 years.
- The men outnumbered the women.
- The racial composition seem biased..
        - Chinese 48%
        - Indian 21%
        - Malay 18%

The Malaysian racial composition is roughly, Malay 55%, Chinese 30% and Indian 12%.

Facing the increase trend, The Health Ministry has launch a five year program of Suicide prevention strategic Plan to curb the rise. It will focus on the community centred approach, a shift from the previous approach clinical treatments at the hospitals.

Currently, the government has 224 psychiatrists with the ratio of 1:150,000. The ideal is 1:50,000. The means, with present population size, the increase will be 3 folds.