Seychelles has taken steps to modernise and improve the quality of home care service offered to the elderly, disabled, and other groups of its population through the establishment of a Home Care Agency (HCA), which started its work on March 1.
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It will manage and regulate home care services in the country, which before the enactment of the Home Care Agency Act, was being done by the Agency for Social Protection. The Agency for Social Protection was also responsible for the application and management of home care services on all three main islands of Mahe, Praslin, and La Digue.
On Monday, April 24, the Home Care Agency will start its operation at Block A in Unity House in Victoria. The registration team will continue to provide the same service for home care and the HCA will be fully operational by the end of June.
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Reverend Daniel Kallee, the HCA chief executive, told SNA that “the government, through the act, has established the agency to provide the highest quality of life possible for those who cannot take care of themselves as a result of sickness, disability, aging and where the ability of a person has been reduced considerably.”
Kallee, an Anglican priest, added that aside from the management and regularisation of home care services and the administration of all applications from people seeking home care service, the Home Care Agency will also be responsible for registering all carers and recipients of care services in Seychelles.
The approval of the Home Care Agency Act by the National Assembly and its setup has been welcomed by many in Seychelles – 115 islands in the western Indian Ocean – as home care service for many years was not seen as essential and not given its true value.
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This has led to working as caregivers amongst one of the most sought out services, attracting very few people to take up this job, and where most of the time, family members had to quit their jobs and take up work as caregivers for their loved ones. Others feel that through the agency, now there will be a readily available pool of carers that can be enlisted and employed.