THURSDAY 6TH DECEMBER 2007
The topic for the day was health promotion and health quality control. The nutritionist or rather known as Pegawai Zat Makanan, Puan Juliani Faridza Alias briefed us on the health promotion and quality control programmes run by the Pejabat Kesihatan Daerah Baling.
She mentioned that the department’s duty is divided into three main parts which consists of monitoring, rehabilitation and promotion. Monitoring includes ethics regarding breast feeding whereby factories are given restrictions regarding promoting and encouraging the sales of their milk formulas to mothers. Among the examples of restrictions drawn up by this ethics include the restriction of promotion of such formulas in hospitals that are baby friendly and the restriction of giving out samples of milk formulas in clinics that promote breastfeeding. Rehabilitation and promotion include providing financial aid to families according to their income margin, arranging cooking demonstrations to mothers with under nourished children, promoting breast feeding, counselling for individuals with diabetes and hypertension, providing iodine salt to individuals with iodine deficiency disorder ( IDD ) and iodinators to schools, providing food baskets ( bakul makanan ) which consists of rice for carbohydrate, eggs and sardine for protein, Scott’s emulsion or Champs supplements for vitamins and milk for calcium to undernourished children from families of the lower income group, providing hematinics and softgel for individuals with anemia and many other activites such as breast feeding campaigns.
After the briefing, we were brought to Klinik Kesihatan Kampung Lalang where we observed how the nurses conducted cooking demonstrations to mothers with under nourished children. We were then taught how to enquire thoroughly regarding a child’s diet from the mother and were each given a chance to elicit history and counsel these mothers under the supervision and guidance of the nutritionist.
After that, we were brought to Klinik Desa Tanjung Pari where we were shown the breast feeding room of the clinic that won the best room among all other clinics in the district of Baling.
By Cheah Boon Eu, Source from aimstdho.blogspot.com
