By NIK KHUSAIRI IBRAHIM (The Star, 4th Oct 2006)
The government has been urged to set up special wards in hospitals for elderly people.
Asean NGO coalition of ageing president Lawrence Cheah Seong Paik said ideally, every hospital should have a geriatric ward.
“We need geriatric specialists to treat elderly patients in view of their special needs.
“With the rising ageing population, the government needs to look into this seriously,” he told newsmen during the Se-nior Citizen health awareness campaign at Caring Society Complex recently.
Lioness Club of Penang and Penang Senior Citizen Associa-tion organised the day-long event that was opened by Health Parliamentary Secretary Datuk Lee Kah Choon.
The health programme att-racted some 200 senior citizens.
Cheah, who is also the Penang Senior Citizen Association pre-sident, said for now senior citizens had no choice but to seek treatment from general practitioners.
“Many of the elderly are complaining that they have to see so many different doctors be-fore they are diagnosed,” he ad-ded.
“Better and faster treatment could be accorded to the elderly patients if they are treated by geriatric specialists,” he ad-ded.
Lee said Universiti Hospital in Kuala Lumpur and Seremban Hospital had set up special units to treat senior citizens.
“But they have yet to set up special wards for the senior citizens,” he said, adding that about 5% of the 26 million population are senior citizens.
Lee also said that there was shortage of urologists in the country.
“Now we only have 60 urologists in the country, we need an additional 300 to cater to the population,” he said.
Lee said the three most popular fields for specialists are cardiology, obstetric and gy-naecology, and paediatrics.
The government has been urged to set up special wards in hospitals for elderly people.
Asean NGO coalition of ageing president Lawrence Cheah Seong Paik said ideally, every hospital should have a geriatric ward.
“We need geriatric specialists to treat elderly patients in view of their special needs.
“With the rising ageing population, the government needs to look into this seriously,” he told newsmen during the Se-nior Citizen health awareness campaign at Caring Society Complex recently.
Lioness Club of Penang and Penang Senior Citizen Associa-tion organised the day-long event that was opened by Health Parliamentary Secretary Datuk Lee Kah Choon.
The health programme att-racted some 200 senior citizens.
Cheah, who is also the Penang Senior Citizen Association pre-sident, said for now senior citizens had no choice but to seek treatment from general practitioners.
“Many of the elderly are complaining that they have to see so many different doctors be-fore they are diagnosed,” he ad-ded.
“Better and faster treatment could be accorded to the elderly patients if they are treated by geriatric specialists,” he ad-ded.
Lee said Universiti Hospital in Kuala Lumpur and Seremban Hospital had set up special units to treat senior citizens.
“But they have yet to set up special wards for the senior citizens,” he said, adding that about 5% of the 26 million population are senior citizens.
Lee also said that there was shortage of urologists in the country.
“Now we only have 60 urologists in the country, we need an additional 300 to cater to the population,” he said.
Lee said the three most popular fields for specialists are cardiology, obstetric and gy-naecology, and paediatrics.
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