KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 7): Obese policemen risk not getting promoted or confirmed if they do not lose weight, The Star reports.

Bukit Aman’s Director of Management Datuk Zulkifli Abdullah was quoted saying a programme will be launched to to combat obesity.

For a start, 35 chubby policemen have been selected to participate in a weight-loss programme called Trim N Fit.

“It’s a pilot project to ensure that policemen stay fit during their service. Our main task is to enforce the law and maintain public order. Therefore, we need our men to always be fit,” The Star quoted Zulkifli as saying.

The force has a list of some 11,000 obese policeman, and he said this was a “conservative number”.

He also revealed that some 250 police personnel and officers died last year due to obesity-related problems such as heart disease and diabetes.

Unhealthy policemen also took a toll on finances by taking sick leave days.

Last year, 28,628 policemen took 239,591 days of medical leave, costing RM8.8 million, the report said.

While officers may have been fit when they joined the force, they put on weight due to work and poor discipline in maintaining a healthy diet, adding that unless these officers had a chronic illness, there was no excuse for them to be fat.

“We don’t just want fit officers and personnel, we also want them them not to have any health complications.

“We are starting with 35 personnel and officers, including myself, from my department first,” Zulkifli said at the launch of the Trim N Fit programme.

Those certified fit will also be subject to random checks to ensure they remained fit after the six-month programme.

Participants were selected if their BMI levels exceeded 25kg/m2. The objective is to make them lose about 5% to 10% of their weight, body fat and waistline within six months, the report said.