KUALA LUMPUR: More than 400 Media Prima Berhad staff were recently screened for diabetes by Columbia Asia.
Medical officers from Columbia Asia conducted the health screenings at Sri Pentas and Balai Berita over four days between Sept 23 and 26.
The programme was part of Media Prima's Employee Well-Being Programme and Columbia Asia's Health Transformation Programme.
Columbia Asia corporate customer service manager and nutrition expert, Nurullatifah Fauzan, said the check-ups were to identify pre-diabetic employees.
Those identified to be at risk of developing diabetes would be selected to join Columbia Asia's six-month Prediabetes Care programme.
"This will include personal counselling from doctors and dietitians from Columbia Asia on diet and exercise."
Nurullatifah said the diabetes screening initiative was in line with the Health Ministry's aim of curbing the rise of diabetes among Malaysians.
"The programme also served to educate Media Prima staff on adopting healthy lifestyles to manage pre-diabetes," she said in a statement.
She said many may not be aware they are pre-diabetic.
However, measures could be taken to prevent a pre-diabetic person from developing diabetes.
"Once a person has diabetes, it is too late to do anything else except treat it for the rest of their lives."
Meanwhile, Media Prima group human resources general manager Nor Arzlin Redzwan said prioritising the health and wellbeing of employees was an investment for any company.
"A healthy workforce helps drive innovation, productivity and a good work culture."