KUCHING: Shelters for the homeless under Budget 2012 will be built in Sarawak in a slightly different manner.

The state government wants to modify the building of the shelter here to also cater to the mentally disturbed.

Presently, there is no purpose-built facility for long-term mental disorder patients, some of whom are without caregivers, in Sarawak, said Welfare, Women and Family Development Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah yesterday.

Patients are sheltered at government-run old folks’ home, she said, adding that the arrangement was less than ideal.

Rumah Seri Kenangan, about 20 minutes’ drive from here, for example, houses 14 mentally disturbed patients out of about 80 residents.

At Sibu’s Rumah Seri Kenangan, there are 17 mentally disturbed patients out of about 80 residents as well. Fatimah described the situation as a “dilemma”.

“Our main contention is that none of our staff are actually trained to handle them (mentally ill residents). I mean, yes, they are separated in a different unit from the old folks, but sometimes things can get a bit violent, although mostly, they display normal behaviour. At the Kuching facility, about half have displayed violent behaviour in the past.”

As such, the minister said, when it was announced that the Federal Government would fund “Anjung Singgah” across the country, her ministry decided that it would submit a proposal to add on to its original function for the one to be built in Sarawak.

“The Anjungs are primarily temporary shelter for the homeless in urban areas. But, you see, the homelessness scenario between big cities like Kuala Lumpur and Kuching is different,” Fatimah told reporters after opening a free public health screening by the Sarawak Chinese Physicians’ Association.

“Here, some of the homeless are mentally disturbed. We don’t have an institution or long-term shelter except for Sentosa Hospital. Patients discharged do relapse; they go home and their families don’t know how to take care of them, so they end up being homeless again.”

Fatimah said the state government would also eventually lobby for a full-fledged mental disorder facility to be set up in the state.

“That’s important. We want to have the proper equipment, along with trained staff so that we can have much more effective rehabilitation programmes.”

On the original concept of the Anjung Singgah, Fatimah described it as a step in the right direction, saying rural-urban migration was set to intensify.

“Some homeless people are being exploited to beg on the streets. It happens to our women, our disabled and also the mentally challenge. The ‘Anjung’ will provide temporary relief for the abject poor. They can shower, sleep and eat. It can’t be long-term, but we don’t want them sleeping under bridges or under park benches,” she said.

(Source: The Star Online, 17/10/11)