KUANTAN, March 26 — The Kuantan City Council (MBK) will take immediate action to reduce the current rate of 30 percent of its employees facing overweight or obesity problems.

Kuantan Mayor Datuk Razihan Adzharuddin said MBK has more than 1,300 employees and with 30 pct of the total suffering from obesity, it is certainly an increasingly worrying lifestyle.

"(The obesity problem) is indeed serious (and) shocking. We have only just appointed a panel clinic and from there, we were able to profile (the health status) of all our staff.

"A cross-examination found that 30 percent of MBK staff are in the obese category with excessive BMI (Body Mass Index) readings,” he said after a ceremony for the Kuantan Ramadhan Bazaar Best Organiser and Trader Awards here yesterday.

He said five out of 21 organisers were awarded Best Organiser while 25 Best Trader Awards emerged from 1,159 traders in 31 venues throughout the district.

Back to looking at the gravity of the matter (of obesity), he said one stop-gap solution was to halt the elevators for one day to motivate its staff to — huff and puff — use the stairs. — Bernama