Deputy Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya said increasing cases of NCDs each year resulted in rising treatment costs borne by the government, besides providing the best medical services to the people.
"The number of Malaysians who are obese as announced by the Health Minister (Datuk Seri S. Subramaniam) recently, shows an increasingly serious obesity problem. Obesity will contribute to more health problems for an individual.
"This will result in more people being admitted to the hospitals for treatment each year. I have visited several hospitals where I saw congestion...need to add beds and so on. We are working at tackling the issue," he said after launching the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Tobacco-Free Campus project, here, Tuesday.
Also present were USM deputy vice-chancellor (Student Affairs and Development) Prof Dr Adnan Hussein, Malaysia Health Promotion Board (MySihat) chairman Tan Sri Dr Mohd Nasir Mohd Ashraf and National Poisons Centre director Assoc Prof Dr Razak Lajis.
Dr Hilmi said increasing public confidence in the medical treatment at government hospitals and clinics also contributed to rising medical costs, including administration, management and development, for the government.
He therefore urged the government to focus more attention to the Health Ministry by giving it an additional allocation in the 2014 Budget, to ensure that it continued to provide the best medical services to the people, including building new hospitals and clinics.
Meanwhile, Dr Hilmi welcomed USM's efforts at kicking the smoking habit among the university's staff and students which could help reduce cases of NCDs.
He hoped that other higher learning institutions would emulate USM by organising programmes to create greater public awareness on the dangers of smoking.
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