KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: As high as 43% of Malaysians aged 30 years and above are prone to getting hypertension, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.

"It is now estimated that there are 4.8 million individuals with hypertension in Malaysia," he said after launching the seventh Asian-Pacific Congress of Hypertension at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre yesterday.

The National Health and Morbidity Survey 2006 showed a 10% increase since 1996 in the number of Malaysians suffering from hypertension and other related diseases, he said.

"It is also alarming to note that two-thirds of Malaysians with hypertension were unaware they had the disease," he said.

Speaking to reporters after opening the Rebirth of Pantai (Hospitals) ceremony here, Liow said it was now compulsory for private hospitals to report all deaths during anaesthetic, surgical and other medical procedures to the Health Ministry's director-general within 72 hours of the incident.

It is learnt the ministry was concerned about the number of deaths that went unreported in private healthcare.

-The Star/Asia News Network