She told FMT that her department would try to locate the families, counsel them and persuade them to accept the patients back into their homes.
The hospital had achieved a 90 per cent success rate through such efforts, she added.
She explained that abandoned patients were usually elderly or mentally ill or both. Some were homeless people, she added.
She said about 10 elderly people would be abandoned at the hospital each year. “The number is higher for the mentally ill, with an average of five being abandoned every month.”
She added that the hospital would treat about 10 homeless people every month. “Sometimes, these people possess no form of identification at all. So our officers will take their thumb prints and ask the National Registration Department to locate their family members.”
Once a family is located, HKL’s team of social workers will pay them a visit to find out the problems it faces.
According to Norliza, financial issues, work demands and lack of care knowledge are among the reasons a family would abandon one of its members in a hospital.
“We would visit the family and then discuss our findings with various experts from within the hospital, including nurses, pharmacists, dieticians and medical specialists, to come up with a care plan,” she said.
“Then, we would discuss the care plan with the family members. Usually, family members are willing to take back the patients when they have understood our care plan.
“However, patients sometimes have a rough history with their family members. There may have been domestic violence, gambling problems or drug or alcohol addiction. That is one of our main challenges in persuading family members to take them back.”
HKL’s main objective is to prevent these patients from being sent to welfare homes.
“That’s why we need the family conferences,” Norzila said. “We want them to realise that there are many support systems available at present to help them care for their family members.”
She said this did not mean that she believed conditions were harsh in welfare homes. “It’s just that there tends to be less love and care in such institutions. It’s always better for their families to take care of them. There’s no place like home.”
Two months ago, Deputy Health Minister Hilmi Yahaya spoke of increasing instances of patients, especially the elderly, being abandoned in government hospitals.
He said it was typical for a government hospital in the country to be left with at least two abandoned patients every month.