Thankful lot: Welfare and charity homes are slowly starting to once again receive contributions from the public compared to when Covid-19 pandemic first hit the nation. — Filepic
PETALING JAYA: Although Malaysians are known for their generosity, the economic crunch and rising cost of living have affected the contributions for welfare homes.
The management of several welfare and charity homes confirmed that they have seen a reduction in contributions since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the nation.
I-Kasih Johor Baru Welfare Association founder KK Wong said contributions have been mediocre, but during the movement control order it had dropped by 60%.
“However, we cannot stop helping the poor, our work must continue.
“Luckily for us, because we are in Johor, those working in Singapore are still able to make some contributions,” he said when asked how the current economic situation has affected the association.
Wong said that there would usually be an increase in aid from the public during the festive period.
President of the Association for Residential Aged Care Operators of Malaysia (Agecope), Delren Terrence Douglas, also said there was a drop in public contributions, but things were slowly picking up.
“We cannot go back to pre-Covid-19 times but people are slowly starting to make contributions, especially with festivities like Christmas and the coming Chinese New Year.
“Many elderly care centres have to shut down because they did not have enough funds to run their operations after the pandemic, so the economy has affected everyone in many ways.
“The number of the ageing population is rising and expected to reach 15% of the population by 2030, so the need for assisted living and elderly care will also increase but we don’t have enough centres to cater to the demand,” he noted.
Delren said the Private Aged Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 2018 has yet to be implemented partly due to the change in governments and the strict requirements that care centres have to follow.
He said care centres would require more funds to run their operations.
“Who is going to help the centres? There are only 11 government-run elderly charity centres, which are fully booked, but the country will need more.
“How is this going to work when there is not enough money,” he added.
Golden Peacock Home manager Santok Singh said the drastic fall in contributions for the home could be attributed to people affected by job loss, pay cuts and a lack of business, which have led them to stop contributing.
“We have people giving food and essential items, but not at the level before 2020.
“We also don’t have volunteers who used to come in like before. This is why I think it’s high time for the Education Ministry to come up with a co-curriculum programme where students can volunteer by doing social services in such care homes.
“This will help centres a lot because we also have a shortage of workers issue and there is no proper category by the government to hire caregivers here,” he added.
He hopes the government could step up its efforts to help homes and centres.
