An elderly care home needs a welfare department (JKM) licence to operate, but to apply for one, it needs green lights from the district health office, fire department and local authority.

Also, the path towards legalisation is often thwarted by residents in the neighbourhood of the homes. Many are afraid their properties would drop in value and would raise objections to the setting up of the homes in their area with the local council.

There are at least 1,300 unlicensed old folks’ homes in the country. The number came to light after it was found that many of the home operators would not facilitate registration of their residents for the Covid-19 vaccination programme for fear of being punished by the authorities.

Most of these elderly care centres are located in residential areas. Their operators said they would like to be licensed but had been held back by red tape and a host of expensive requirements.

JKM officers were as difficult to deal with as their counterparts in local councils, the operators of several old folks’ homes told FMT.

Pusat Jagaan Husna Arrashid owner Harunnarashid Mohd Noor said his centre in Gombak was operating legally between 1995 and 2020. It was registered under his manager’s name since he was serving in the armed forces.

When the manager left in early 2020, Harunnarashid faced difficulties in renewing the JKM licence.

The department treated him as a new applicant. It required him to go back to the local authority, fire department and health department all over again.

He said the Ampang Jaya municipal council was now asking for building plans and architectural drawings and the fire department had told him to install fire hose reels to get its green light.

He said this would cost him more than RM20,000 and he did not have the money. Pleas to the authorities had fallen on deaf ears, he added.

“What is wrong if we just give a rough sketch of our home, which is essentially a kampung house on a bungalow lot?” he said. “With so much space around us, firefighting would be easy and there is no need for fire hose reels.”

The operator of a facility in Subang Jaya said she had been plagued with local council troubles since 2016.

She got a six-month conditional licence while her application to convert her bungalow to commercial use was being processed.

However, the residents in the area objected to her plan as it was an “exclusive gated and guarded community” and was “no place for an old folks’ home”.

Officials of the Subang Jaya Municipal Council took note of the protest and she was denied her full care centre operator’s licence.

The Selangor Appeals Board however reversed the council’s decision, granting her a full licence. It turned out that her home was where an aged care home could legally operate according to the council’s blueprint.

However, she was recently dealt another blow when the council, now known as the Subang Jaya City Council, refused to renew her licence when it expired in December 2019, citing more pushback from residents.

She has since filed another case with the Appeals Board. It has sat only once to hear the case. A subsequent hearing has been delayed because of the movement control order.

“I was told by the residents’ group that they did not want old, sick people here,” she said.

“My immediate neighbours support me, but others are against me. I’ve spent thousands on legal fees to fight my case and I guess I have to spend more.”

A woman who runs an old folks’ home in Shah Alam, who called herself Azwani, said she had to spend RM20,000 to pay town planners, architects and fees for other services.

She said the town planners and architects must be hired from a panel chosen by the city council and they were expensive, as were the annual licence fees.

Delren Terrence Douglas, president of AgeCope, an association for residential aged care operators, told FMT unlicensed operators had long been making these complaints.

He said the government and local authorities should relax rules for aged care operators since Malaysia was becoming an ageing society.

According to a government projection, 15% of the population will be above 60 by 2030.

Douglas said local authorities were known to charge high fees to convert residential properties to old folks’ homes. The Penang Island Municipal Council, for example, charges RM40 per square foot.

“An amnesty should be given to all operators and a temporary licence should be given to them,” Douglas said.

“JKM should also help them legalise and look at the centres on a case-by-case basis. Don’t penalise them. Help them.”