“I feel fine. Why should I see a doctor?”
That one line says a lot about how many Malaysians treat their own health. We tend to wait for a signal — pain, breathlessness, bleeding that won’t stop — before we even think about booking an appointment.
The problem is that diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, and several cancers don’t send signals. They build up quietly, sometimes for years, without a single symptom.
According to the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2023, 15.6 per cent of Malaysian adults are living with diabetes, 29.2 per cent with hypertension, and 33.3 per cent with high cholesterol.
A large share of them had no idea. Among adults with diabetes, two in five were undiagnosed. These are not rare conditions affecting a small minority — they are common, and they are often invisible until damage has already been done.
Why, then, do so many of us keep pushing screening aside? There’s no single answer. Money is one factor. A private screening package can cost anywhere from RM70 to over RM380, depending on the tests included, and even the smaller fees at public clinics are easy to deprioritise when the budget is tight.
Time is another. Long queues, limited operating hours, and the hassle of taking leave from work all add up, particularly for daily-wage earners who lose income for every hour away.
But the biggest barrier may be mental. Nobody wants to hear bad news, and not knowing can feel safer than finding out. Layer on a cultural habit of gritting our teeth and enduring (tahan sahaja), and screening becomes a “later” task — one that never quite arrives.
The fallout isn’t only personal. When cases are caught late, the public health system absorbs the cost, and treating complications is far more expensive than preventing them. Dialysis, amputation, and advanced cancer treatment place an enormous burden on hospitals and on families.
Screening, by contrast, is one of the cheapest interventions we have.
And it’s more accessible than many realise. Klinik Kesihatan provides basic screening for a minimal fee. Under PeKa B40, eligible B40 recipients aged 40 and above get free health screening. PERKESO’s Health Screening Programme also offers free screenings for eligible workers.
The takeaway is straightforward: feeling fine doesn’t mean you are fine. A short screening today can save you and your family years of hardship. Don’t wait for symptoms: by the time they show up, the damage is often already done.
Brittany Richard Johny is a clinical instructor at the School of Nursing, Faculty of Medical and Life Sciences, Sunway University. Kala Raani Chandra Guindan is a lecturer at the School of Nursing, Faculty of Medical and Life Sciences, Sunway University.
- This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of CodeBlue.
