Fatimah: Sarawak intensifies campaign to combat dementia misconceptions, support senior citizens

KUCHING (Nov 22): The Ministry of Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development will intensify efforts to increase public awareness and knowledge about dementia, said its minister Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah.

She highlighted that there are still misconceptions regarding dementia, with many people viewing it as a normal part of ageing.

“Dementia is a concerning disease that could be slowed with medication, treatment and therapy, but many people still do not understand what it is.

“That’s why we want to start raising awareness of it,” she said during the ‘Empowering Senior Citizens Programme: Unravelling Dementia Disease’ at the Kuching Community Social Support Centre (CSSC) today.

Fatimah added that her ministry, in collaboration with the Sarawak Department of Women and Family along with the Social Development Council (MPS), will continue organising programmes that focus on dementia.

The Social Welfare Department (JKM) will also implement initiatives like the Kenyalang Gold Card (KGC) and Senior Citizen Health Benefit (SCHB) to support elderly citizens as Sarawak prepares for its ageing population by 2028.

The programme featured a session by a specialist in geriatrics, Dr Ling Jia Nee, who revealed that there are ten million new cases of dementia reported annually worldwide, with one patient diagnosed every three seconds.

“According to the 2018 Health Survey, the dementia rate in Malaysia stood at 8.5 per cent and is expected to increase by 312 per cent by 2050.

“This rapid increase is very concerning, especially when efforts to address it are very slow.

“The government will not be able to keep up with the fast-growing ageing population and the average cost for a dementia patient is also expensive, at RM3,000, which many people – even those with high incomes – cannot afford,” she said.

Dr Ling also noted a troubling increase in the mortality rate for dementia, which has increased by 123 per cent compared to other causes of death like heart disease and cancer.

“This is happening because people don’t know that they should seek medical attention, while conditions like heart disease are more known and treated promptly,” she explained.

She thus emphasised the importance of the community in understanding dementia, how it can be prevented, and how its progression can be slowed with treatment, medication and therapy.

Dementia patients in Sarawak can seek treatment at Memory Clinics at the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) and the Sarawak Heart Centre, as well as private hospitals such as Borneo Medical Centre (BMC), KPJ Specialist Medical Centre, and Timberland Medical Centre.