Guard Your Heart in Shape

The event getting a positive response from students and public

UTAR Medicine and Health Sciences Society (MHSS), in collaboration with Asian Medical Students Association (AMSA), organised “AMSA Health Day 2018” on 26 November 2018 at Sungai Long Campus.

The theme of this year’s health day was Cardiovascular Diseases Awareness—‘Guard Your Heart in Shape’. It offered free wellness screening and consultation services, including the testing of blood cholesterol level, blood glucose level, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure and free dietary consultations.

The event saw active participation from elderly

A participant checking his blood pressure

A participant practising CPR

Participants seeking consultation for their health condition

Organising committee explaining the different types of disease to participants

According to Organising Chairperson Lau Jia Shin and Vice Chairperson Lim Foong Teng, the health day, which comes with different themes, is held on an annual basis at the University. This year’s event emphasised on cardiovascular disease, where the disease is typically associated with narrowed or blocked blood vessels that can lead to conditions such as heart attacks and strokes. Cardiovascular disease is one of the popular causes of death and disabilities in Malaysia, but it can often largely be prevented by leading a healthy lifestyle. Therefore, in their comments, Lau and Lim hoped that through this kind of activities, more people will realise the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle and having a regular check-up on their health condition to prevent the disease.

“We advise the participants to follow a healthy diet plan according to the food pyramid and maintain an active lifestyle by performing physical activities such as jogging to stay healthy and active. We also recommended them to go for regular check-ups as they could actually get affordable health screening service from the government hospitals,” said Lau. She also added that one of the event’s highlights was Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), where the participants could learn some simple steps to perform CPR correctly and improve the survival rate for any emergency cases.

Lau and Lim hoping to enhance awareness among the community about the disease and equip them with the knowledge of prevention