Wan Azizah: Govt lacks manpower to closely monitor childcare centres

Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. -Bernamapic

KUALA LUMPUR: The Government lacks manpower to closely monitor childcare centres, apart from the fact that many such centres are unregistered.

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (pic) said there was a misconception that there was a lot of red tape involved in the registration and administration process.

"According to the law, only a childcare centre that has more than four children under its care needs to be registered, so this does not cover family members, friends and babysitters who are tasked with less than four children at a time," explained Dr Wan Azizah, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister.

"We are aware of the restrictions when it comes to monitoring these centres as well, because we do not have enough officers to conduct detailed observations on each childcare centre on a regular basis," she said in response to a question by Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff (PAS - Rantau Panjang) in Parliament on Tuesday (July 24).

Dr Wan Azizah said there were 4,293 registered childcare centres nationwide as of June this year.

Siti Zailah had asked about immediate measures being taken to regulate childcare centres, including home-based babysitters.

On Saturday (July 21), Dr Wan Azizah had said that laws would be tightened to prevent infant deaths due to negligence by babysitters.

Recently, two babies died while in the care of their babysitters in a span of three weeks.

Both nannies were unregistered child minders who care for children to supplement their income.

The first case happened on July 3 when Noor Aqilah Abd Rahman, 33, was arrested after a five-month-old baby she was minding was found in a freezer in her house in Batu Caves.

A post-mortem revealed that the baby, Adam Rayqal Mohd Sufi Naeif, had died of brain haemorrhage and fracture of the skull.

Noor Aqilah was charged on July 13 in the Selayang Sessions Court with abusing a baby boy and disposing of his body to conceal the death.

On Saturday, 10-month-old Naufal Amsyar Nabil Fikri died in Muar after falling out of the crib at his babysitter's house. Police had detained the 35-year-old babysitter to assist in investigations.