KUALA LUMPUR: The rigid process for licence renewal is driving almost 80 per cent of private- and non-governmental organisation-run senior care centres to operate without a licence.
Association for Residential Aged Care Operators of Malaysia (AgeCope) president Delren Terrence Douglas said of the 2,000 senior care homes in the country, only 401 were able to renew their licence.
He said with about 30,000 residents and merely 11 public senior care centres with two palliative care centres, the government was unable to even contemplate shutting down these unlicensed homes.
"Based on the records of those registered with us, the lowest we have is five residents per home, but it can be as high as 150 people per centre.
"The total number of residents in all homes is around 30,000.
"So, the government cannot close down these unlicensed centres because they have no idea where to send the residents," he said, adding that the country was far from ready to embrace its ageing population by 2030.
Malaysia is transitioning to an ageing nation in six years, where 15.3 per cent of its population is expected to be aged 60 and above.
As of June 2023, there are 396 registered elderly care centres of which 76 are under the management of NGOs, while the other 320 are privately managed.
The Social Welfare Department said to date there were 1,028 unregistered care centres, of which 265 were elderly care centres.
Douglas said the current procedure to renew the licence does not merely constitute a "renewal", as they were forced to go through procedures similar to that of a new application.
"We have to renew our licences every five years, but by making the process of renewal where you need to go through the whole process of reapplication, that's where the problem starts.
"Since I became (AgeCope) president in 2018, the net increase (of license issuance) is only 19. This shows that progress is slow. At this rate, we will not be able to ensure that all 2,000 centres will be licensed even in the next decade," he said.
He said among the main issues faced by the centres in renewing their licences was to get neighbours' permission for the homes to operate.
Douglas said that while some local councils, like the one in Sungai Petani, do not require consent from neighbours, others enforce more stringent requirements in this regard.
"Different town councils have different by-laws. In Petaling Jaya or Subang Jaya, you will need consent from neighbours before opening a centre.
"But the problem arises because when they want to renew their licence, the procedure is treated as a new application, meaning they need to get consent from their neighbours (again).
"If they have new neighbours who refuse to give their consent, these centres will not be able to renew their licences.
"Many centres are in limbo because of this," he said, adding that they had highlighted the issue with the Housing and Local Government Ministry and the Malaysia Productivity Corporation.