Acute shortage on elder care
Efforts to increase number of trained caregivers underway
PETALING JAYA: There is an urgent need to address the acute shortage of caregivers and nurses for the elderly, given Malaysia’s rapidly growing grey population, says an expert.
There is also great concern over the quality of care for the elderly as the total number of senior citizens nationwide was projected to reach about 4.5 million by 2030, said Association for Residential Aged Care Operators (Agecope) president Delren Terrence Douglas.
“Out of the 3,000 personnel in welfare homes nationwide at the moment, fewer than 20% consist of trained caregivers and nurses.
“Prior to the pandemic, the composition of nurses at homes nationwide was hovering at about 40% to 50%, but a large majority has since been called back for service with the government to combat the pandemic.
“This has resulted in an acute lack of personnel nationwide,” he told reporters after the launch of the Malaysian Coalition on Ageing (MCOA) yesterday.
On Feb 14, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, in revealing the findings of the Census Report 2020 themed “Your Data, Our Future”, said the ageing population had grown by 1.2 million between 2010 and 2020.
He added that those above 60 years old had totalled 3.4 million individuals or 10.4% of the population in 2020, compared to 2010 when they made up 8% or 2.2 million.
Agecope’s Delren, however, noted that efforts to increase the number of trained caregivers were underway through collaborations with several tertiary institutions such as Mahsa University and the Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology (AIMST) University.
“Agecope also guarantees job opportunities as caregivers at our centres once students complete their training programmes at these institutions,” he said, adding that this initiative would now be undertaken by the MCOA as a whole.
He said MCOA also hoped to reach out to the government to make this a nationwide initiative as part of efforts to increase the number of caregivers.
“This is a step in the right direction towards ensuring a sufficient supply of trained caregivers to tackle the rising population of senior citizens,” he said.
Delren added that this would also create a win-win situation where there would be a sufficient number of trained caregivers to care for the elderly while also providing job opportunities for the unemployed.
He added that the first batch of 22 students who underwent the programme have successfully graduated last month, with all having been employed by Agecope.
Commenting on the administering of boosters to senior citizens in care homes, he said the situation has since improved.
“The Health Ministry has since outsourced the administering of booster doses to seniors in care homes here to the private sector.
“At my centre in Kedah, the Health Ministry is still overseeing efforts to administer boosters to seniors in homes,” he said.
The MCOA was formed to empower the older population through advocacy, research and evidence-based strategies.
The coalition has nine founding members consisting of Agecope, the Gerontological Association of Malaysia, Golden Age Welfare Association Malaysia, Nursing Care Association Selangor, Seniors Aloud, Third Age Media Association of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, University of Third Age Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, Central Welfare Council of Malaysia’s Port Dickson branch, and the Putrajaya Senior Citizens Activity Centre.