Only two geriatricians in Sabah

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah has only two geriatricians and with the number of ageing people going up, there is a dire need for more.

Geriatricians are medical doctors who are trained to meet the special healthcare needs of older people.

Consultant Dr Peter Selestine of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Geriatric Unit said this level of healthcare for older people was still new and not many understood the need to have proper and quality geriatric care.

“Geriatric care is important to ensure that older generations are given the best healthcare, especially when they are ill as they too can contribute to society in their own ways.

“Often, working children do not have time to care for their ageing parents and we don’t see specific wards for these patients in hospital,” he said at the launching of the 12th National Geriatrics Conference 2016 here yesterday.

Dr Selestine said due to this, geriatricians or geriatric nurses play an important role.

He opined that every hospital should have at least one geriatric ward with an average of 20 beds.

“We should move towards making this a reality,” he said.

“If we do not have enough geriatricians or nurses, we won’t be able to cope when the time comes,” he said.

Sabah Health director Dr Christina Rundi said they were working towards improving geriatric care in the state.

“We are not neglecting the needs of the older generation and are looking into this matter seriously,” she said.

Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said the government would work towards providing better geriatric care for society and had introduced various programmes to help the elderly.

He said funding for geriatric care was also given out on an annual basis.