THE SARAWAK government has allocated a total of RM3.4 million in grants to registered care centres through the Social Welfare Department, from 2017 to 2022.
Deputy Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Minister Mohamad Razi Sitam said the assistance aimed to support the centres and operators to conduct relevant activities which included training of caregivers.
He said there are 32 care centres in Sarawak registered under Section 6 of the Care Centres Act 1993, of which 18 are for children, nine are for the elderly and five are for persons with disabilities (PWD), while many other care centres remain unregistered with the department.
“We are aware that there are care centres owned by NGOs or private ones that are unregistered with the Social Welfare Department, hence, we advise them to submit an application to JKMS to get various initiatives to ease operations of their care centres,” he said.
Razi (GPS-Saribas) said this in response to See Chee How (PSB-Batu Lintang) during question time at the DUN sitting on Wednesday (May 18).
He said the state is responsible to ensure all care centres to be registered under the act by providing the necessary guidelines and rules.
“Under Section 7 of the Care Centres Act 1993 the Director General is empowered to enforce the act, to monitor and investigate the centres.
“Hence, the department is able to monitor the registration and to ensure they have achieved certain minimum standards that are laid out in the Care Centres Act 1993 and Care Centre Regulations 1994.”
Apart from the RM3.4 million grant, he said the department has also channelled a total of RM650,000 to 13 elderly care centres for operational purposes.
A total of 14 elderly care centres have received annual grants amounting to RM10,000 to RM40,000 each per year based on applications submitted to Social Welfare Department,
“For the assistance of PWD in Sarawak, a total of 55 community rehabilitation centres have received annual financial assistance including rent, utilities and allowances amounting to RM10.5 million for this year.
“This proves that the state government is committed and supportive towards the sustainability of the disabled and the elderly to ensure inclusivity and well-being of these groups as stated in the GPS manifesto,” he added.
