KUALA LUMPUR, June 12 — The Health Ministry (MOH) has set up seven clinics specifically to deal with men’s health and well-being to help them deal with fertility problems, said Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Raj Munni Sabu.
They include the Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru and Penang subfertility clinics, while the other four are known as Nur Sejahtera Clinics (KNS), with one of them along Jalan Raja Laut here.
The other three KNS clinics are in Melaka, in Dungun, Terengganu, and in Sarawak.
"The setting up of these clinics is one of the three initiatives of the National Population and Family Development Board (LPPKN) to overcome the problem of male fertility in the country,” she said, adding that the subfertility clinics offer Insemination Procedure (IUI), In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) services," she said.
Raj Munni was responding to a supplementary question from Tenggara MP Manndzri Nasib during the question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today. Manndzri had asked about the initiatives taken by the government to help men with fertility problems.
The government has also held activities through advocacy programmes and promotion, as well as providing tax exemptions for fertility treatment of up to RM6,000, and subsidies for fertility treatment for civil servants.
She said the government's objective of helping couples, especially those in the M40 and B40 groups, to deal with the problem of infertility through the LPPKN Subfertility service had been achieved.
The response to LPPKN's subfertility service, introduced in 1979, had been good with 40,576 new cases and 262,657 repeat cases recorded as of last April.
— Bernama
