The needs of chronic patients requiring pain management and palliative care have been absent from the discussions surrounding the impact of the MCO imposed because of the Covid-19 crisis.
"The release of this report gives us an opportunity to take stock, review and evaluate the successes and failures from implementation of this plan. We should know what investments worked, those that didn't and respond to gaps in resources."
Earmarking this revenue, along with that collected from tobacco and alcohol, will help address the current shortfall in funding for NCD prevention programmes.
We recommend, as a pilot programme, that the Government earmarks an initial 5 percent from the collected sin tax revenue to strengthen NCD health promotion and treatment, focusing initially on diabetes and cancer.
In the 2016 edition of the Economist’s War on Cancer, Malaysia is estimated to record a 49% increase in breast cancer cases between 2012 to 2025. This is worrying as Malaysia recorded the lowest rate of five-year survivorship rate as well as the highest rate of mortality and incident rates in the region.