PETALING JAYA: Matters concerning the fate of 21 elderly people who were abandoned in front of the Yayasan Tamilar Kural Malaysia office in Taman Inderawasih here on Tuesday have been taken over by the Social Welfare Department.
Yayasan Tamilar Kural Malaysia chairman, David Marshel, said that 13 of them, including three who suffer from mental health issues, are now under the protection of the Penang welfare department.
According to Sinar Harian, he added that the remaining eight individuals have been taken in by the Love & Care Home in Kulim, a private care home.
“All health screenings and their statements have been completed before they were transferred to the shelter at 10pm on Tuesday (Nov 5).
"On behalf of Yayasan Tamilar Kural Malaysia, we would like to express our gratitude to the Women, Family, and Community Development Ministry, Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri, as well as the Welfare Exco, Lim Siew Khim, and the Health Exco, Daniel Gooi, for their swift action in addressing 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 care home in Sungai Karangan, Kulim, were abandoned in front of the Yayasan Tamilar Kural Malaysia office in Taman Inderawasih.
Marshel explained that this irresponsible act might have been triggered by a visit to a hut in an oil palm plantation in Sungai Karangan, where the group of elderly people had been housed.
Previously, all of these elderly individuals were placed in a care home, but the facility was shut down after an incident in which one elderly person was allegedly beaten by the caretaker.
“The Kedah welfare department took over the care home in April 2024. However, the man who ran the facility did not hand over all the residents to the department but instead placed them in a hut on an oil palm plantation.
“The place had no basic facilities, and there were no caregivers or nurses to look after those living there. The conditions were poor, foul-smelling, and completely unsuitable for anyone to live in. In fact, some residents had been chained there, supposedly because they had mental health issues,” he added.
As a result, he hopes the authorities will investigate the individuals who left all of the residents in such dire and neglectful conditions and take legal action against those involved.
