A total of 2,860 dementia patients saw a doctor and underwent treatment in Macau as of last month, with 53.8 percent of the patients being aged 80 or above, among them 1,840 females accounting for 64.3 percent of the total, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U said yesterday.
Ao Ieong made the remarks during an oral interpellation plenary session yesterday in the legislature’s hemicycle, adding that the data came from a database of dementia patients that was set up by the Health Bureau (SSM) in Macau in 2016.
Ao Ieong said that there has been no significant increase in the number of dementia cases over the past few years with an average increase of about 500 cases per year, while the number of cases last year was slightly more, at 653 cases, which was mainly due to the lag in the data published due to the COVID 19 pandemic in the past few years.
According to Ao Ieong, the Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) will collaborate with social service organisations in providing 45 additional service places in a day care centre for the elderly in the peninsula’s Toi San district, and also plans to set up an additional day care centre with a capacity of about 40 service places in Zone A.
By then, the number of day care service organisations for the elderly will increase to 10, while the number of service places will rise to about 550.
Macao Union Hospital’s specialist clinics to start trial ops in March
During yesterday’s plenary session, Ao Ieong also said that the Macao Union Hospital in south Cotai will come into full operation in September, while some of the hospital’s specialist outpatient clinics and examination departments will start trial operations in March, and radiotherapy departments will be put into operation in June, adding that the hospital’s emergency department will be officially opened when fully operational.
Currently, there are 71 staff members in the hospital, and more employees will be recruited gradually, Ao Ieong said, adding that as of October, the first phase of the recruitment of 90 staff members received a total of 2,236 applications, 165 of whom were interviewed.
As for the recruitment of 80 employees last month, 1,545 applications had been received as of last Wednesday, Ao Ieong said, pointing out that the vacancies are for local residents only.
According to the latest available official demographics, Macau's population stood at 681,300 at the end of the third quarter of last year.
This undated file photo shows the Macao Union Hospital in southern Cotai, downloaded from the hospital’s official website last night.
