Health Ministry launches medicine labels with Braille for visually impaired

By: Patrick Beech

Following a new initiative by the Health Ministry, Malaysia is now among the earliest in Asia to have medicine labels friendly to the visually impaired.

According to health minister, Dr Zaliha Mustafa, the labels were created to make it easier for those who are visually impaired to get quick and accurate information about their medication.

"As a start, this initiative will be implemented in 250 public health clinics nationwide that will benefit 55,000 visually impaired people.”

Incorporating labels that feature Braille is especially important to companies in the pharmaceutical sector.

Under European law all medicines must have the name of the medicine displayed in Braille on the labelling.

There are one billion people with visible disabilities worldwide. Globally, 39 million people are blind and 253 million have some form of vision impairment.

In Malaysia, approximately 1.2 per cent of the population experience blindness.