merged

Health Expenditure among Fishermen Community: An Empirical Study in
District Kuala Nerus, Terengganu
Nor Shahirah binti Muhamad
Supervisor: Puan Roshanim binti Koris
Bachelor of Economics (Natural Resources)
School Of Social and Economic Development
The role of a fisherman is very important in the fisheries sector which it contributes to
economic growth. Fishermen who have good health can do their work more
productively. Health problems suffered by fishermen will affect the cost of health
expenditure. The aim of this study was to identify risk factors in addition to analyze
direct costs and indirect costs fishermen on health expenditure. A total of 72 fishermen
from the Kuala Nerus area were randomly selected for this study. A set of
questionnaire was used as a research instrument. Data were analyzed using SPSS
version 25.0. Overall, the findings found that 69. 4% of fishermen are active smokers
where the highest number of cigarettes consumed in a day is 48 cigarettes. On
average, the number of direct cost is RM332.33, while indirect costs were of
RM107.54. There are several diseases that fishermen suffer from, but the disease with
the highest cost is kidney problem with RM993.49 while the facilities which recorded
the highest cost are private hospitals with RM1, 210.89. Reduce the risk factors such
as smoking among fishermen could overcome the increases in the cost of health
expenditure.
Keyword: Health care expenditure, fishermen, Direct cost, Indirect cost, Chronic
disease, and Risk factors
1436 | UMT UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH DAY 2018