Malaysia is now among the earliest in Asia to have medicine labels that are visually impaired-friendly, due to a new initiative from the Health Ministry.
The initiative was launched by Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa at the ministry headquarters in Putrajaya today.
“It is my pleasure to announce today that the Health Ministry will launch a very practical new initiative that is visually impaired-friendly medicine labels which will be printed in Braille.
“Such labels were created to make it easier for those who are visually impaired to get not only quick but accurate information about their medication and prescription,” Zaliha said in her New Year’s address in Putrajaya today.
This initiative is an expansion of the Know Your Medicine Programme, which is in line with the Malaysian Patient Safety Goals 2.0 under Medication Safety: Medication Without Harm.
Zaliha added that for now, the medicine labels will be implemented at 250 health clinics nationwide which is expected to benefit about 55,000 people with visual impairments.
Covid-19
On a separate issue, the minister said they are prepared for the emergence of the new Omicron sub-variant of Covid-19.
The ministry is also now equipped with valuable experience from facing the previous Delta wave, she said.
Among the steps the ministry is taking to prepare for a potential new Covid-19 wave is by working closely with neighbouring countries and the World Health Organization in strengthening pandemic control and prevention methods, she added.
The ministry will also have increased Covid-19 surveillance on people travelling into the country and continued monitoring of possible new variants or subvariants through random sampling.
Zaliha also strongly encouraged wearing masks while in public as well as getting booster shots for the Covid-19 vaccination. - Mkini
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