KUCHING: Dementia cases are on the rise in recent years and they are forecast to keep on rising by up to 312 per cent come 2050 as Malaysia walks down the path to becoming an ageing nation, plus other reasons such as lifestyle and environmental risk factors.
This situation has elicited a worrying response from health experts and they feel that solutions need to be found as soon as possible.
New Sarawak Tribune spoke to Dr Ismail Drahman and Dr Bernard Ting Hock for their thoughts.
“The average lifespan of Malaysians is becoming longer now. For instance, we are reaching 72 years old for man and 76 years old for woman,” Dr Ismail Drahman, who is a psychiatrist, shared.
“As a person grows older, the chances of him or her getting dementia is very high,” he added.
Dr Bernard Ting Chuong Hock, who is a lecturer at the Department of Psychological Medicine, University Malaysia Sarawak, felt that while medical technology had advanced and the lifespan of humans had increased, this also meant that more people were living with chronic diseases and exposed to multiple environmental factors that could potentially contribute to the development of dementia.
“More people are aware of the disease nowadays and willing to go for assessment and treatment early, accounting for the rapid rise of cases in the nation,” he said.
Dr Ismail opined that most Malaysians suffered from tonnes of health problems such as hypertension and high cholesterol while Dr Ting revealed that other factors could include poor control of chronic disease such as diabetes, having sedentary lifestyles, family history of dementia, and chronic smokers.
“Healthy lifestyle is not being properly practiced in our country,” said Dr Ismail.
When asked whether or not Malaysia was fast becoming an ageing nation, Dr Ismail agreed while Dr Ting felt that other countries were experiencing this as well, not just Malaysia.
Dr Ismail said people appeared to be healthy on the outside but had other illnesses on the inside. “People can live longer but the brain cannot stand it.”
In terms of solutions, Dr Ting felt that having the knowledge and education and raising public awareness about dementia might not be enough.
“We need more trained personnel to take care of this specific population.
“As the severity of dementia varies across population, the level of care can also be very different, especially for those with behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (bpsd).”
On the other hand, Dr Ismail suggested that more daycare centres be created and localised.
“Especially in residential areas, they have nearby daycare centres where they can have the elderly to participate in various activities.
“For instance, a daycare centre where they can walk around, sit down, have a cup of coffee and whatnot, plus they can make friends and do other activities. We need to make it more active among our community.”
He also emphasised that mingling around and social interaction could be part of the solution so that they could exercise their minds and brains.
Dr Ismail also suggested that the elderly should be more independent within the environment that is friendlier.
“If they want to go elsewhere, at least the path is there for them. If they want to go to the park, they can go at anytime they want just to have their own leisure time.”
Meanwhile, Dr Ting shared that building more daycare centres might not be enough.
“People should be equipped with more skills, particularly communication skills, to handle their loved ones suffering from dementia so that they can continue to live meaningfully in the community,” he suggested.
He also felt that it was essential to ensure the staff of the relevant centres receive adequate training in order to maximise their roles in providing high standard of care.
Dr Ismail explained that the solution was for everyone to think about, not just government bodies and agencies.
“Everyone needs to come up with something that is effective and the young people can come forward and help the elderly and such.”
