PUTRAJAYA: The Senior Citizens Bill should be expedited to better address the needs of an ageing population, with findings from the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2025 helping to inform its implementation, says Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad (pic).
“This finding (NHMS 2025) clearly calls for urgent action on the Bill. The interventions outlined in the Bill, which will form part of our legal framework, are crucial in safeguarding their (elderly) rights, including access to facilities and services.
“As a minister, alongside my Cabinet colleagues, I want to see this Bill fast-tracked.
“This is important because we cannot start addressing ageing issues only when individuals reach their 60s,” he said during the launch of the NHMS 2025 results in Putrajaya yesterday.
“We need to begin earlier when Malaysians are in their 50s. That gives us a decade to ensure people remain healthy, so that by the time they are in their 60s, issues such as non-communicable diseases (NCD), cognitive decline, frailty and falls can be better managed.
“If we start too late, we will always be playing catch-up and operating in crisis mode.”
Dzulkefly also noted that Malaysia is ageing 1.5 times faster than Japan, warning that the rapid transition poses significant fiscal and social pressures on healthcare, pension systems and family support structures.
“Japan underwent this ageing process over 100 years. First with public health interventions that increased longevity, then a fertility collapse, and finally by the 1990s, an ageing society with 30% above 65.
“But in Malaysia, all three stages are unfolding within just 50 to 60 years,” he said.
“The consequence is that our systems’ pensions, healthcare and social institutions may not be built up adequately in time.
“These pressures converge so fast, and that is why NHMS 2025 is a call to action.
“Our seniors must be uplifted with dignity, so their last decade of life is not spent in poor health but with quality of life.
“That is why a whole-of-government approach is essential. The Health Ministry fully supports expediting the Senior Citizens Bill to complement our National Healthcare Services Action Plan as well as the National Dementia Action Plan.”
The Senior Citizens Bill aims to safeguard the rights and welfare of older persons, offering broader legal protection, particularly against neglect, abuse and exploitation.
Meanwhile, Dzulkefly also said mental health support is among the assistance being provided to victims of the fire at Kampung Bahagia in Sandakan, Sabah.
“Rapid assessment and response teams have been deployed to the relief centres to give immediate clinical intervention to the victims.
“There are also preventive public health and sanitation measures given to victims to prevent post-disaster disease outbreaks.”
