Options available to build a trained caregiver workforce<\/a><\/p>\nShe added that budget allocation for training caregivers also needs to be addressed.<\/p>\n
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said the Health Ministry is currently not involved in training or developing skilled caregivers for the ageing population.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Women, Family and Community Development Ministry is developing the Malaysian Care Industry Action Plan,\u201d said Dzulkefly when contacted.<\/p>\n
The Malaysian Care Industry Action Plan is a strategy to create an affordable, accessible and quality care ecosystem in Malaysia \u2013 including promoting Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) for skilled caregivers.<\/p>\n
Dzulkefly further said that private elder care centres and requirement for caregivers are regulated by the Social Welfare Department under the Care Centre Act 1993.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Health Ministry will only regulate private aged healthcare facilities once the Private Aged Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 2018 (Act 802) is enforced fully,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The Private Aged Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 2018 (Act 802) was passed in Parliament on Nov 29, 2017, and was gazetted on March 29, 2018.<\/p>\n
However, its regulations have not yet been approved by the Attorney General\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
This means that the law cannot yet be fully enforced, as the regulations are necessary to provide guidance on how to implement the law.<\/p>\n
Under Act 802, private aged healthcare facilities and services are required to obtain a licence from the Health Ministry to operate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe training of the care workers is not within the purview of this Act 802 or the Health Ministry.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs of now, there are institutions providing training for caregivers, including the Human Resources Ministry.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Universiti Malaya\u2019s professor of geriatric medicine, Dr Shahrul Bahyah Kamaruzzaman, there should be more commitment from the government to address caregiving in an ageing population.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are many existing policies and Acts which have been developed to address the issues facing the ageing population but they require regulations and implementation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese, however, should be implemented by professionals who are knowledgeable of the issues and problems faced by the ageing population.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Act 802 isn\u2019t enforced, how can we bring in the Health Ministry and other relevant agencies?<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not just about ageing and elderly individuals. What we need most is a coordinating body that will be able to work across ministries,\u201d said Dr Shahrul Bahyah, who is also the president of the Malaysian Healthy Ageing Society.<\/p>\n
She also said that the Social Welfare Department \u2013 which is the main authority handling the issues faced by the elderly \u2013 is overburdened as it also has to cater to the issues of women and children.<\/p>\n
\u201cCare for the elderly needs to be strategised across the life course and within an age-friendly framework, in line with policies under the World Health Organisation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere can be private and public cooperation for this to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are halfway there but we need one dedicated body \u2013 a ministry or an agency to oversee all matters related to the ageing population.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt should not be done piecemeal by various ministries,\u201d said Dr Shahrul Bahyah, who stressed that political will and a strong coordinated governance is of utmost importance.<\/p>\n
She stated that without a wholesome approach, the same problems will keep cropping up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PETALING JAYA \u2013 There is a need to ensure all ministries and agencies are aligned as the country…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51555,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[45,49,48,35120,133,3845,131,132,7460,28741],"class_list":{"0":"post-51554","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-economic-affairs","12":"tag-finance","13":"tag-malaysia","14":"tag-personal-finance","15":"tag-personalfinance","16":"tag-society","17":"tag-the-star"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}