KUALA LUMPUR: Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in Malaysia and it is estimated that 5,000 babies are born each year with congenital heart problems in this country.

The Prime Minister's wife, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said most patients also required heart surgery treatment with complex expertise that involved expensive treatment costs.

She said that based on the report 'The Direct Healthcare Cost of Noncommunicable Diseases in Malaysia', it is estimated that RM3.93 billion of the total RM9.65 billion healthcare cost in 2017 was allocated for the expenses of treating heart patients.

"As such, the public is advised to prevent this by adopting a healthy lifestyle because the cost of treating this disease is not cheap. I see that the IJN (National Heart Institute) has made a considerable contribution to dealing with this heart disease.

"In addition, it is hoped that more foundations will continue to provide support and any non-governmental organisation (NGO) can also contribute to help these patients," she said at the launch of the 5th series of the Myheart Programme and the Prihatin Healthcare Campaign at IJN, here, today.

Also present were IJN Foundation (IJNF) chairman Toh Puan Dr Aishah Ong and MYPRIHATIN Foundation chairman Prof Datuk Dr Halimaton Hamdan.

At the function, the MYPRIHATIN Foundation and IJNF also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish cooperation in managing and accommodating the logistics costs of paediatric heart patients facing financial problems.

The MYPRIHATIN Foundation also contributed RM100,000 to IJNF and handed over 50 hampers to child heart patients in IJN's paediatric Ward.

-- BERNAMA