Focus on health premises, mental health - Lam Thye

KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 (Bernama) -- Ensuring the safety aspects of health premises and boosting the development plan for mental health are among areas which must be stressed by the Health Advisory Council proposed by the Health Minister recently.


Social activist Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said these two aspects were important, taking into account the incidences reported in the country.


"Based on information from the Fire and Rescue Department, there are still public and private health premises which are unsafe and have high risk of fire. We are also often shocked by many cases of criminal cases, including murder which involved suspects with mental problems," he said in a statement here today.


Lee, who is also National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) chairman said the fire which broke out at the store in the Kuala Lumpur Hospital’s forensic department in March could happen at any other building.


"Similarly, the fire at the Intensive Care Unit in the Sultanah Aminah Hospital (HSA) in Johor Bahru in October last year, which killed six patients, including four women."


Lee urged the authorities to conduct an annual safety audit of all health premises such as hospitals nationwide, especially those which were more than 20 years old, and these should include a thorough check of the electrical wiring in the buildings and facilities.


On mental health, Lee said according to psychiatry associate professor in the Medical Faculty, Universiti Malaya, Dr Ng Chong Guan, the number of mental patients in Malaysia would double within 10 years.


-- BERNAMA