Mental Health Legislation For The Elderly With Mental Health Problems

The elderly or also known as older people is a vulnerable group which needs special attention and protection by the government. The United Nations defines people aged 60 years and above as elderly. Although not all countries define older people as above 60 years of age, Malaysia tends to follow the definition provided by the United Nations. Since the population of older people or elderly is growing, Malaysia can be defined as an ageing nation if more than 10% of its population is aged more than 60 years. This has raised some concerns on the part of the government to formulate specific measures to protect and empower the elderly in Malaysia. The Malaysian government has consistently been giving specific attention to the elderly in Malaysia. This can be seen when Malaysia developed the National Policy for Older Persons in 1995 and the Plan of Action for Older Persons in 1998 which after review were reformulated as the new National Policy for Older Persons, 2011 and the new Plan of Action for Older Persons. The new policy works together with the National Health Policy for Older Persons, 2008. Besides this, Malaysia has also exhibited its concern for older people with specific strategies related to enhancing the living environment for the elderly in the Eleventh Malaysia Plan (2016-2020). Although many efforts have been made for older people, there remain many unresolved issues relating to the elderly in Malaysia. As Malaysia is growing as an ageing nation, it will face many issues pertaining to elderly such as mental capacity, guardianship, consent to treatment, advance directives, and so on. Currently, Malaysia has the Mental Health Act 2001 related to mental disorder and to provide for the admission, detention, lodging, care, treatment, rehabilitation, control and protection of persons who are mentally disordered and for related matters. However, this piece of legislation is seen as inadequate as it is not sufficient to cater for all the issues pertaining to elderly in Malaysia with regard to mental health problems. © 2019 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy.org.UK