Category: Health EN

Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) applauds the Ministry of Health for planning to control charges at private hospitals, including doctors’ consultation fees and the number of in-house visits to patients in a day. The reports of recent abuses justify this action. The Ministry plans to amend Schedule 13 of the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Regulations 2006 which is the Fee...

The Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) welcomes the news that the Ministry of Health is not going to rush ahead with any implementation of a healthcare financing scheme. The right to good health has been recognised as a basic human right that everyone possesses. In 1978, the Alma Ata Declaration was adopted by the world community, to which Malaysia was a party. The Declaration proclaimed that...

The Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) is disturbed to note the number of abuse cases involving children reported of late. Toddlers being sexually abused, a stepchild apparently beaten to death, young girls raped the list goes on. Alarmingly, parents or caregivers are the perpetrators in many cases of child abuse. These are the very people that society expects to protect the child. It has been...

The humble bicycle could be a key to our long-term survival — in terms of health, environment and economics. CAP’s research shows that reviving bicycle use here would benefit both the nation and the people. Here’s the evidence for health. A recent Malaysian Shape of the Nation survey showed that Malaysia has the most number of fat people in the Asean region. In fact, the number of fat...

Cycling is good for health. For one, it reduces death risks. In Denmark, a 15-year study associates cycling with a 40% reduction in mortality for both sexes over all ages (Archives of Internal Medicine, 2000). Basically, a person who cycles as a commuter consistently can expect, according to a report released in a 1986 issue of the American Journal of Public Health, to live longer than those who...

Scientific studies implicate some of the chemicals detected in cord blood tests with serious, ongoing human health problems. DIOXIN Exposures during fetal development have been implicated in endocrine related cancers in women (breast and uterine, for example) by altering hormone levels, increasing the sensitivity of children and adolescents to other carcinogens (Birnbaum and Fenton 2003). In men,...