SERDANG: The Ibadah Hospital Academy at the Al-Islam Specialists Hospital will draw up a specific module for hospital volunteers to ensure that they are knowledgeable, complied with the patient visit guide and the hospital’s standard operating procedure and regulations to avoid problems for the patients and hospital.
Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who is also the Minister of Women, Family and Community Development said the module and training of volunteers will be introduced to volunteers in government and private hospitals.
“Volunteers who undergo training organised by the Ibadah Hospital Academy will be recognised volunteers,” she said in her speech at the National Hospital Volunteer Seminar held at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), here today.
Dr Wan Azizah said with the training, the service provided by the volunteers would be more systematic.
“This would attract the interest of the public to contribute as volunteers, thus achieving the objectives of the ‘1 Keluarga 1 Sukarelawan’ (1 Family 1 Volunteer) programme are achieved,” she said.
Dr Wan Azizah said the role of hospital volunteers was still new in Malaysia but in Western countries, it was an effective programme which helped facilitate hospital operations and had a positive impact on patients and the community.
The DPM also urged hospital directors and staff to give their full cooperation to volunteers.
She added that other than hospitals, another place which needed volunteers were old folks’ homes.
She said on a visit to an old folks’ home in Ipoh yesterday, she found out that there was only one cook who was preparing the food.
“Volunteers can help cooks prepare food such as by cutting and cleaning the raw items for cooking,” she said. — Bernama
