Abandoned elderly people rescued by social welfare department and private nursing home

PETALING JAYA: Questions surrounding the fate of 21 elderly people who were abandoned in front of the Yayasan Tamilar Kural Malaysia office in Taman Inderawasi on Tuesday have been referred to the Department of Social Welfare.

Yayasan Tamilar Kural Malaysia chairman David Marshall said 13 of them, including three suffering from mental illness, are now under the protection of Penang’s social welfare department.

According to Sinar Harian, he added that the remaining eight people were admitted to the private nursing home “House of Love and Care” in Kulim.

“All medical assessments and statements were completed before they were transferred to the shelter at 10pm on Tuesday (November 5).

“On behalf of Yayasan Tamilar Kural Malaysia, we would like to express our gratitude to the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri, as well as Welfare Exco Lim Siew Khim and Health Organization Daniel Gooi. for their swift action to resolve this issue,” he said in a statement on Wednesday (Nov 5).

On Tuesday, it was reported that 21 elderly people, believed to be from a nursing home in Sungai Karangan, Kulim, were dumped in front of the Yayasan Tamilar Kural Malaysia office in Taman Inderawasi.

Marchel explained that this irresponsible act may have been prompted by a visit to a hut on an oil palm plantation in Sungai Karangan where a group of elderly people lived.

All of these elderly people were previously admitted to a nursing home, but the facility was closed following an incident in which one elderly person was allegedly beaten by a caretaker.

“The Kedah Social Welfare Department took over the management of the nursing home in April 2024. However, the person running the facility did not hand over all the residents to the department, but instead placed them in a hut on an oil palm plantation.

“This place did not have basic amenities, there were no caregivers or nurses to look after those living there. The conditions were bad, smelly and completely uninhabitable. In fact, some residents there were kept in chains, allegedly due to mental health problems,” he added.

As a result, he hopes that authorities will investigate the people who left all the residents in such squalid and neglectful conditions and take legal action against those responsible.