A BLUEPRINT and committee will be established to tackle the problem of the homeless, Ismail Sabri Yaakob said.

The prime minister said the matter was agreed upon at the first meeting of the Special Cabinet Committee for Protecting Vulnerable Groups, which was chaired by him and attended by ministers and deputy ministers as well as senior officials of the ministries and departments involved, in Putrajaya today.

Apart from that, he said, the meeting also agreed with the proposal of the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry to step up the registration of care centres and enforcement on these centres and review the Care Centres Act 1983 and Care Centres Regulations 1994.

“Meanwhile, the Private Aged Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 2018 will be enforced in preparation for the projection of Malaysia in achieving the ageing nation status by 2030 as well as supporting the development of the ageing healthcare industry at private care centres,” he said in a statement today.

“To improve the efficiency of care centre management, the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry also implemented the alternative service delivery pilot project at a senior citizen care centre since November 21 last year.”

He said the new approach involved strategic cooperation via the shared expertise of experienced civil society groups in care for the aged to ensure care centres are managed effectively.

Ismail said the government through the National Tahfiz Education Policy (DPTN) will empower tahfiz education and standardisation of tahfiz management nationwide through five main thrusts, namely legislation, tahfiz model, curriculum meeting mainstream education, integrity in governance and streamlining of tahfiz recognition.

He said since the DPTN was introduced in 2016, the total number of tahfiz registered has increased from 571 to 1,208 this year.

He also called on the federal and state governments to jointly review land status to facilitate care centres and tahfiz to obtain operation approval for the success of the Keluarga Malaysia agenda and to ensure the well-being of the community, especially vulnerable groups.

“For example, the amending of agricultural land status to commercial land to enable these centres to operate legally,” he said.

On the Special Cabinet Committee for Protecting Vulnerable Groups, Ismail said it is a special platform to comprehensively address the problems relating to care centres for the vulnerable groups in the country, including childcare centres and centres for people with disabilities and senior citizens as well as tahfiz.

He said the definition of “vulnerable groups” has been expanded to cover 12 groups, among them, the homeless, stateless individuals, refugees, patients with infectious diseases and the destitute.

He said the setting up of the committee is aimed at formulating a holistic approach to ensuring their welfare and well-being.

“The government has also taken a joint approach with various parties to handle the issue of the homeless to assist the group to lead a better life,” he said.

“Among the programmes available under the Federal Territories Ministry are Homeless Transit Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Homeless Guidance Home and Anjung Kelana Transformation Centre.” – Bernama, August 3, 2022.