KUALA LUMPUR, 20 Dec 2017:
The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry will establish guidelines for elderly care centres – especially for Muslims – after the Care Centres (Amendment) Bill 2017 was passed by the Dewan Negara.
Minister Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim said it would be a joint effort between the ministry and the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) to create the best standard operating procedures (SOPs) for care centres to meet needs of its inmates.
“The guidelines are still being refined. Jakim will carry out a briefing on care centres, particularly with Muslim inmates,” she said when winding up the debate on the Care Centres (Amendment) Bill 2017 at Dewan Negara yesterday.
The Care Centres (Amendment) Bill 2017 is to amend the Care Centres Act 1993 (Act 506) – aimed at establishing a special Act for the care of senior citizens aged 60 years and above in ensuring the elderly care centres in the country can be regulated more efficiently.
Rohani said the Health Ministry and her ministry had agreed to enact a special health care Act for a senior citizen namely, the Private Aged Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 2017.
Earlier, the Senate approved the Private Aged Healthcare Facilities and Services Bill 2017 which was tabled by Deputy Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya.
The bill, among others, aimed at regulating senior care institutions to ensure the well-being of their inmates is well taken care of.
When winding up the debate on the bill, Dr Hilmi said there were about 1,000 unregistered senior care centres and there was no specific law to regulate them.
The Dewan Negara adjourned sine die after sitting for 10 days and passing 13 bills.
The bills were the Supply Bill 2018, Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) (Amendment) Bill 2017, Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM) (Amendment) Bill 2017, Employment Insurance System Bill (SIP) 2017, Finance (No. 2) Bill 2017, Labuan Business Activity Tax (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2017, Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2017, Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Bill 2017 and the Arbitration (Amendment) Bill 2017.
The Dewan Negara also approved the Private Aged Healthcare Facilities and Services Bill 2017, Care Centres (Amendment) Bill 2017, Tourism Industry (Amendment) Bill and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (Amendment) Bill 2017.
– Bernama