Senior Advocacy
Legal Resources
Health care
This act was enacted to safeguarded the service of providing minimum standard of care to the elderly in care centres throughout Malaysia. It replaces the Private Healthcare Facilities and Service Act 1998 [ACT 586] and came into force. This Act is applicable to any person who is sixty years of age or above.
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To view the legislation, you click the link here.
This new bill was tabled in 2017 at the Dewan Rakyat to regulate all private healthcare facilities and prohibit any of the centres without license to provide care for more than 3 senior citizens. With this bill, even the pre-existing health care centres are required to apply for a license, failing will be fined RM 30,000.
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To view the legislation, you click the link here.
Policy came into force after the previous policy National Policy for Older Persons 1995 (ended). The main objective is to build a community of older persons who are independent; possess self-dignity and self-worth; recognise their own potential. With that in mind, this policy highlights the elderly community ranging from different backgrounds and experiences.
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To view the legislation, you click the link here.
A few provisions in the act which were amended are the short title and commencement, amendment of section 2 and 3 and the addition of a new section 11B. This amended act has yet to come into force and is cited from now on as the Care Centres (Amendment) Act 2018. The Care Centres (Amendment) Bill 2017 was aimed to prevent overlap between the principal CCA and the current PAHFAS bill.
With the amendments, only care centres providing care to those below 60 are covered by the CCA. Once the PAHFAS Bill comes into effect, registered care centres under the CCA which are providing care to more than 3 aged persons will have 5 years to apply for an approval and licence from the director of General Health.
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To view the legislation, you click the link here.
Mental Care
This Act essentially focuses on mental disorder and to provide for the admission, detention, lodging, care, treatment, rehabilitation, control and protection of persons who are mentally disordered and for related matters. This act needs to be revisited and reviewed for multiple reformations to sections and structure of phrases, inter alia, to separate mental health care of elderly from the ‘general public’.
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To view the legislation, you click the link here.
This regulation came into force together with Mental Health Act 2001 to outline procedures for admission, detention, examination and review of patient in, and discharge or transfer of patient from, psychiatric hospital, care of patient in psychiatric facilities, electroconvulsive therapy, restraint or seclusion, standards for private psychiatric hospital, private psychiatric nursing home and private community mental health centre, patient rights, matters of communication, and the procedure to be followed by the board of visitors.
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To view the regulation, you click the link here.
This policy aims to create a psychologically healthy and balanced society which emphasizes on promotion of mental health and prevention of psychological problems by aiding in treatments and rehabilitation. Page 58 focusses on 6.6 Geriatric Psychiatry which strives to provide a structurally compact and precise mental health care and operational policy for the elderly community. Three major identifiable issues have been proven among elderly which are dementia, pre-existing psychiatric disorders and physical disabilities.
Thus, with these issues analysed, this portion of the policy aims to provide effective and efficient assessment, treatment and support to care for older persons with mental health along with education.
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To view the policy, you click the link here.
Elder Abuse
Section 3 of the Domestic Violence Act 1994 provides the physical injury, emotional injury. This act applies to elderly in Malaysia as well.
Section 4 states that a remedy can be obtained, such as an Interim Protection Order for the victim of abuse, prohibiting the person against whom the order is made from using domestic violence against an incapacitated adult or any other member of the family.
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Section 5 provides that the victim may also apply for a Protection Order which has the effect of restraining the person against whom the order is made from using domestic violence against the incapacitated adult.
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To view the legislation, you click the link here.
The previous act needs to be read together with Penal Code. A crime under the Penal Code must be proven before any action can be taken against the perpetrator. For example, physical injury will fall under either section 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) or section 325 (punishment for voluntarily causing grievous hurt) of the Penal Code.
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To view the legislation, you click the link here.