This is a cross-sectional, descriptive study among Malay women admitted in the antenatal and postnatal ward to determine the prevalence and use of herbal medicines during pregnancy and elemental analysis in the most popular herbs. A total of 460 women were surveyed. Herbal medicine use during pregnancy was 34.3%, while 73% utilized herbal medicines during labor, because of a belief that it may shorten and ease labor. The most commonly used herbal medicines in pregnancy were Anastatica hierochuntica L. (60.1%) followed by coconut oil (35.4%). The majority of women (89.2%) used only one type of herbal medicines and took one capsule/glass (38%) per day. Herbal medicines use by pregnant women is largely unsupervised (81%), with most women getting information from their parents (60.7%) and buying the products directly from traditional midwives (32.2%) and 77% agreed upon its efficacy and safety. From the 460 respondents, 89.8% women were in the low end of the herbs knowledge. There was a significant difference found between knowledge score and income (P < 0.05). Microdiffraction analysis revealed significant presence of carbon, oxygen, silica, calcium, magnesium, aluminium, potassium, zinc, and iron that were found in Anastatica hierochuntica L. and proved to have good benefits for pregnancy.
The paramedic team of Advanced Medical and Dental Institute (IPPT), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) is often involved in providing medical assistance for various activities organised by the university such as during PIMPIN siswa outdoor training and sport events. Paramedics often faced difficulty in saving injured patients as the current stretcher is rather heavy (5.8 kg) and is not able to be folded to a smaller size. To overcome this problem, i-TAG, a stretcher made of durable two-layer canvas cloth with the size of 170.0 cm x 74.0 cm and equipped with 10 user-friendly rubber handle, has been invented. The upper part of the stretcher has a zip to insert the spinal board if the victim has spinal and head injuries. The i-TAG is also very light with only 1.2 kg in weight, easy to be folded and stored in emergency bags, and can be easily carried by paramedics. The i-TAG innovative product has a positive impact on health and safety services. Using i-TAG, the task to carry patients or injured victims becomes easier, faster, saves energy and subsequently increases the efficacy of the rescue and medical aid tasks by paramedics.