PETALING JAYA: The caretaker Prime Minister, YAB Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has taken up mental health as an issue of national concern, and plans to establish a National Mental Health Centre of Excellence. YAB Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri announced that the Health Ministry was among the recipients of the largest increase in allocations under Budget 2023, amounting to RM36.1 billion, compared with RM32.4 billion for 2022.
MEF President Datuk Dr Syed Hussain Syed Husman PJN JP stated that “MEF lauded YAB Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri initiative to set up the National Mental Health Centre of Excellence as he is the first prime minister to put such issues at the top of his agenda. The initiative is indeed timely as the 2015 Health Ministry report on mental health stated that one in three Malaysians, or about 29% of the population, suffered from mental health issues. The numbers remained the same up till now. The proposed National Mental Health Centre of Excellence will certainly be the driving force for all stakeholders including the employers and employees to ensure that the Rakyat’s mental well-being, will be appropriately addressed and managed with allocation of about RM34 million.”
“MEF thanks the YAB Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri for his earnestness in addressing the mental health issues faced by the Rakyat and placed mental health issues as top priority of his Keluarga Malaysia agenda. MEF had raised the issues of mental health many times and MEF is indeed happy that the YAB PM has taken the issue of the Rakyat mental well-being as a priority. This shows the caring side of YAB Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri and the government. The initiative by the government to allocate bigger budget to the Health Ministry and the efforts to set up the National Mental Health Centre of Excellence should be supported by all the stakeholders. MEF fully supports this initiative. The setting up of the National Mental Health Centre of Excellence will be able to effectively managed and address mental health issues faced by the rakyat and employees in particular.
MEF hopes that in future the centre of excellence will be the reference centre on mental health issues for the ASEAN region and Asia Pacific.”
“MEF President Datuk Dr Syed Hussain said that the National assets is really the Rakyat. We must do all we can to protect our Core assets, The Rakyat. Employers n government can work together to form a council and draw out plans to address mental health issues. MEF maintains close contacts with the International Labour Organization and also as a member of the International Organisation of Employers has excess to data and experience to make the efforts to manage and address issues on mental health a success. All the stakeholders should work together for the wellbeing of the Rakyat. When the rakyat is healthy, productivity increases and employers, employees and the rakyat will be happy.”
“As the recognised employers’ organization at the national, regional and international levels, MEF is always concerned with mental health issues MEF had organised seminars on health issues including mental health for its members these initiatives were taken to help address various challenges faced by the members with regard to mental health issues.”
“MEF also participated directly in drawing up the Guideline on Prevention of Stress and Violence at the Workplace published by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health, Ministry of Human Resources. The guideline is the main reference document to manage issues related to psychosocial hazards at the workplace.”
For further information, please contact the MEF Secretariat at 03-7955-7778 or fax 03-7955-9008 or email mef-hq@mef.org.my.
8 November 2022