Home based healthcare services in the planning, says Subra

GOMBAK: As part of the efforts to beef up public health services, the Health Ministry will be providing after-hospital home care services to patients suffering from chronic diseases.

Its Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam (pic) said on Thursday that it would target at 60 locations nationwide to provide the services.

For a start, they need an additional 600 staff members for the domiciliary care, he said.

"We are preparing the master plan, which we hope to complete by the end of this year," he said in a press conference after a ceremony to officiate the opening of the Batu 8 Gombak health clinic, which was upgraded from a community clinic.

Dr Subramaniam said the Ministry would focus on enhancing public health delivery system in the next four years and would do it through several approaches.

He said it would include providing the home care services to patients suffering from chronic diseases.

As part of the service, a stroke patient needing long-term rehabilitative care, for instance, would receive continued care after he was discharged from hospital.

"The hospital can't keep the patient for too long and this is where care is continued in the community, " he said.