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ers. However, even with professional
training and registered nurse licence
obtained in their own countries, tasks
that private foreign caregivers can
perform are restricted to non-invasive
treatment – wound care and massag-
ing for example. They are not allowed
to perform invasive treatments, such
as injection, without a medical practi-
tioner license.
KL Home Care Limited is an agen-
cy which recruits foreign domestic
helpers and caregivers for local fami-
lies. Its CEO Vincent Lau says they
do not encourage or allow caregivers
to perform invasive treatment even if
certain caregivers have obtained rel-
Families look for agencies to hire foreign domestic helpers or caregivers evant licences. “Caregivers can simply
dial 999 or take first-aid measures if
there is something wrong with the el-
derly.” The risk is too high for both the
caregivers and agencies to bear. “Any
kind of errors can get them into trou-
Any kind of errors can get ble as they can take someone’s life.”
While private foreign caregivers
them into trouble as they could be a solution to solve the prob-
can take someone’s life lem of ageing population, Lau points
out that only 10 per cent of the elderly
care market is looking for private for-
eign caregiver services. “The market
Vincent Lau
has a preliminary understanding on
the private foreign caregiver industry,”
Lau says. “They do not understand
what we are selling, or what kind of
services we can provide.”
Apart from little knowledge about
the industry, Lau reveals another
major difficulty to achieve ageing-
in-place. “You have to renovate the
house, including renovating toilet and
installing rails, in order to construct a
suitable environment for the elderly
and chronic patients in particular.”
Lau predicts that the industry
needs three to five years to grow. With
lower demand for private foreign
caregivers, he believes that with suit-
able training, the foreign domestic
helper scheme is sufficient enough to
minimise the pressure on the public
Awards and certificates on the wall of KL Home Care Limited health system. “We must train for-