PETALING JAYA: As the country faces the prospect of an ageing society, a medical expert has called for greater awareness of dementia, a disorder associated with old age.
Dr Tan Maw Pin, professor of geriatric medicine at Universiti Malaya, said Malaysia can expect a steady rise in dementia cases, as official statistics show that Malaysians aged more than 60 will make up 15% of the population by 2030.
A national health survey showed that 8.5% of Malaysians above 60 were already found to have dementia.
The rapidly ageing population meant the country needed more doctors specialising in geriatrics to treat age-related health issues, said Dr Tan.
“This percentage is high. Most patients with dementia in Malaysia are not diagnosed because a lot of people consider memory loss as part and parcel of old age,” she said.
“But dementia is very much a disease that causes a lot of morbidity and loss of income and is a really heavy burden on our healthcare system.”
Tan said the number of cases was increasing faster than the health services could cope.
She suggested that medical students be taught to conduct memory tests as part of screening for dementia.
Make dementia tests part of basic physical exam
“Just like all doctors are taught to check heartbeats, they should know how to do a screening test for anyone over the age of 60.
“All the (current) medical tests were designed years ago before dementia was common. Life has changed so much.
“Those days, life expectancy was 45 years, so there were very few people with dementia. But now most people who access our healthcare systems are older. We need to include cognitive screening or memory tests as part of our basic physical examination.”
Tan also called for the health ministry to consider investing in training other specialists, besides doctors, such as psychologists and nursing home staff to effectively care for patients with the cognitive disease.
Dr Wong Teck Wee, president of the Malaysian Healthy Ageing Society, said the education system should also be amended from the primary levels.
He urged primary and secondary schools to teach students how to care for their health from a young age.
Teach children how to live healthy lives
Stressing the need to teach children how to cook healthy dishes, he said: “It’s all about prevention. Children must be educated on how to live healthy lives, control their stress levels and communicate well with their peers and family members.
“We need to learn how to take care of ourselves from young, not when we’re old and sick.”
He said this would benefit the population in the long run as children would be able to apply what they had learned and prepare healthy meals for the rest of their family.
Wong added that older people must be proactive in setting aside money for future emergencies, as they should not solely depend on the government to solve all their age-related health issues.
“A lot of times, we put the responsibility on our government and family. That is wrong. As individuals, we should be responsible for our own health and happiness.”
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