PUTRAJAYA:About 35 per cent of the 52,873 smokers who registered under the mQuit Services, a smoking cessation treatment, between 2015 and 2019, have successfully quit smoking, said Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali.

He said the programme was conducted in two phases, namely, the first phase held from 2015 to 2017, and the second phase from 2017 to this year.

There are 198 registered private facilities nationwide offering smoking cessation services to date, and the number is expected to increase to 400 facilities by 2025, he said.

“It is an encouraging success as a result of the cooperation of all the partners involved,” he told reporters here yesterday after the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the third phase of mQuit Services between the Ministry of Health (MOH) and 13 partners, for a period of five years.

The partners involved are Universiti Malaya; Akademi Farmasi Malaysia; Johnson & Johnson Sdn Bhd; Translab (M) Sdn Bhd; Putra Specialist Hospital; Pertubuhan Green Lung Malaysia; Persatuan Farmasi Malaysia; Pertubuhan Ayah Jangan Merokok, CompuMed Services Sdn Bhd; Pfizer (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd; Health4U Solution Sdn Bhd; Inter Virtual Sdn Bhd and Persatuan Mencegah Dadah Malaysia.

Dr Noor Azmi said the third phase of mQuit Services will be implemented in line with the new norms where it emphasised on the digitalisation system and the concept of uberisation.

“Those who want to get information related to this programme can continue to register and obtain advice online at the jomquit.com,” he said.

He also said that information related to smoking and how to participate in the mQuit Services is also available through the MySejahtera application and as a result, more than 4,210 smokers have registered during the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) between March 18 and Dec 8.

-- BERNAMA