He said priority must be given to treating and reducing NCDs, such as diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension.

“We are actually sitting on a ticking time bomb on non-communicable diseases and if we don’t do something about it today, it will break our healthcare system in 10 to 20 years’ time,” he told a forum at UCSI University here.

Last September, when he was health minister, Khairy said almost half of those with NCDs were not aware of their health status nor if they had an NCD until it had already become serious.

He was reported to have said then that 252,767 people had been screened for NCDs nationwide through the MySejahtera application.

Of the total number who did the screening, 173,722 were aged 40 and above, with 47.34% of them confirmed to have one or more NCD, 46.34% had NCD risk factors, and the remaining 6.31% were healthy.

Khairy also urged the health ministry and healthcare sector to prioritise tackling mental health issues.

“Thankfully, the stigma (towards mental health) is being eroded, so more people can come forward and say they have a problem and they need to talk about this (to seek help).”

On a separate matter, Khairy said it would be difficult for him to rejoin Umno after being sacked from the party in January.

Without elaborating, the former Umno Youth chief said the party was in a “very dark place now”, adding that he was not sure if Umno could ever recover.