KUALA LUMPUR: A mobile application to equip domestic workers with crucial knowledge about taking care of the elderly will soon be made available here.
The Malaysian Association of Foreign Maid Agencies said the paid service, called Medically Informed Minders (MiM), would be launched in Malaysia in September after a pilot test is conducted in 100 households here.
The service will allow domestic maids and even their employers to access, on their smartphones, various forms of medical information related to the elderly, in three languages English, Tagalog and Bahasa Indonesia.
They would also be able to engage in “live” chats with trained nurses, based at a call centre in the Philippines, to seek advice.
The information is presented in the form of text, video and animation and is offered on both mobile and online platforms, said Papa president Jeffrey Foo.
“Gone are the days when people wanted to hire domestic workers who needed to only perform household chores.
Serious talk: Foo (left) and Dr Wei speaking at the press conference in Kuala Lumpur.
“Many households need help to care for their elderly or children and can afford to pay for better quality service,” he said during a press conference here yesterday.
Foo said the maids would be better informed and employers could “be at peace” when leaving their loved ones in their care.
He said the price for the service for Malaysian employers had not been determined yet.
Employers, he said, could request for the service from their respective maid agencies.
In Singapore, the mobile application costs S$200 (RM498), but the fee is reimbursed by the government if the domestic worker successfully completes the six-week module on basic medical knowledge.
“After the six-week period, the caregiver can continue to access the application for information.
“In the modules, which are developed by medical professionals, they will learn the basics of how to recognise symptoms of various diseases and how to respond during medical emergencies,” said Dr Wei Siang Yu, founder of the Borderless Healthcare Group of Companies which developed the technology.
Dr Wei said they planned to incorporate this into the training centres at source countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines where the domestic workers would learn how to use the application even before they were assigned to their employers. –P. ARUNA, aruna@thestar.com.my
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