Family care: Yong massaging her mother’s forehead in the living room.
JOHOR BARU: For the past few days, 85-year-old Wong How Lan has been battling Covid-19 in her daughter’s living room as she is too ill to eat or drink without help.
Her 54-year-old daughter, Maggie Yong, who is taking care of her, said that despite her mother’s worsening condition, she cannot be admitted to a government hospital because she is stateless.
“I can only watch in agony as my mother’s fever lingers, and her heart rate has dropped to about 40 beats per minute.
“She can barely move and relies on me fully to prop her up just to drink or eat,” said the tuition teacher, who also tested positive for Covid-19 last Sunday.
Yong said her mother’s condition took a sharp turn after testing positive on Tuesday despite taking medicine for fever, flu, and cough.
The family has nowhere to turn to for help as private hospitals have declined to admit Wong because of her Covid-19 status, while public hospitals require valid identification documents for admission.
She explained that her mother was born in Indonesia’s Riau Islands and moved to Singapore as a teenager in search of a better life.
Back then, Wong worked as a maid in Singapore and later married a Johorean. They settled down in Johor Baru and raised five Malaysian children together.
She used to hold a red identity card (IC), which is a Malaysian identification card for those with permanent resident status, but it was withdrawn under circumstances she did not fully understand.
“One day, my mother, while pregnant with my youngest sibling, was travelling to Singapore when she was stopped at the Malaysian checkpoint.
“She told us that an Immigration Department officer took her red IC and asked her to sign a document she did not understand before allowing her to pass through. She was afraid and did not know what else to do but to comply at that time,” said Yong.
That was over 40 years ago, she said, adding that the family had written to various authorities, including the Home Ministry, in hopes of restoring her status or gaining citizenship, but they have been unsuccessful.
Ironically, the old red IC number could still be used to register Wong on the MySejahtera app for Covid-19 vaccination and booster shots in 2021 and 2022.
“But now, when she is at her most vulnerable, she is left without professional medical support,” said Yong.
When contacted, Johor health and environment committee chairman Ling Tian Soon confirmed that an official identification is required for admission to public hospitals.
“For Malaysians, a MyKad is required, while foreigners or overseas-born individuals must produce either a passport or a red IC.
“However, non-Malaysians are not entitled to subsidised healthcare,” he said.
