According to the latest statistics released by the national disease registry, Malays in Singapore are the most unhealthy in terms of the rates of illnesses such as diabetes, kidney failure, heart attacks and strokes.
Malays make up only 13.5% of Singapore’s total population but they account for 24.4% of all patients receiving dialysis.
Dialysis is one of two possible treatments for end-stage kidney disease. The other option is transplant. The total proportion of Malays who have undergone kidney transplants also increased from 8.5% in 2003 to 10.1% last year as well.
The rates of stroke was also higher in Malays with men up to 1.5 time more likely to suffer a stroke than their Chinese counterparts. This is based on age-standardised statistics.
Malays also have the highest rate of heart attacks of all the races and this was attributed to generally higher cholesterol and hypertension rates.
Another contributing factor was that Malays tend to be less aware of their own conditions compared with other races meaning that more people get to dire stages without regulating their diets and exercise regimes.
While Malays were found to have higher rates of heart and kidney problems, Chinese patients generally had higher rates of cancer.
Some contributory factors to health problems include lifestyle factors such as lack of exercise, smoking and too much fatty or salty food.
The government is also aware of the problem and Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yaacob has also explained that community groups and mosques have been organising health promotion activities but more still needs to be done.
Source: www.straitstimes.com
