In an interview with the News Strait Times on budget allocation for 2021, Professor Dr Maznah Dahlui said that the budget should focus more on the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCD) in Malaysia. She said that the RM24 million for mental health, prevention of violence and substance abuse was a good move.
However, there should be more funds for health promotion and prevention campaigns for non-communicable diseases (NCD). She stressed upon a need to protect groups at risk of NCDs as there is a risk of a national health crisis following a surge in NCD cases when the pandemic is over. Malaysia records RM8.91 billion in losses in productivity annually from NCDs such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and hypertension.
