Home Care Unit transferred to newly created Home Care Agency   |18 April 2023

The press conference (Photo: Joena Meme)

•  Migration will be completed in June

The newly created Seychelles Home Care Agency will start its operations on Mahé at its new location at the Unity House building, effective Monday, April 24, as part of its migration from the Agency for Social Protection, following the enactment of the Seychelles Home Care Agency Act, 2022.

The announcement was made yesterday by the chief executive of the Seychelles Home Care Agency (SHCA), Dr Daniel Kallee, who stated that all current procedures will remain the same.

Speaking at the ASP’s headquarters at Oceangate House in the presence of its chief executive, Brenda Morin, the chairperson of SHCA’s board, Marie-Celine Malbrook and SHCA’s senior registration and monitoring officer, Medline Freminot, Dr Kallee said all applications and administration work will now take place in Room 110, Block A at the Unity House building.

“Every single staff who was working with the Home Care Section will now be transferred over to the new agency. It will take some time to complete the migration process and in the meantime all services will remain as is, such as application at district level and at the Home Care Agency,” explained Dr Kallee.

He further added that the newly created Home Care Agency will continue to work with district authorities and other social partners, as well as families, to provide home care.

“We are aware of the challenges associated with home care and we are taking all necessary measures to ensure the transfer is done smoothly,” he stated.

It should be noted that for Praslin and La Digue, the home care services will remain in its existing location and still headed by the same team.

According to chief executive Kallee this is because they are yet to identify a suitable location. Dr Kallee and Ms Morin will be conducting a visit to the two islands later this week.

The Seychelles Home Care Agency Act, 2022 was approved by the National Assembly in December last year and makes provision for the agency that will manage and regulate home care services in the country,  which was under the Agency for Social Protection. This includes monitoring of the level of care provided as well as providing training to home care givers with the aim of raising the standard of service. Under the act, caregivers will also be assessed based on their competency and certified. A six-member board was appointed in March to oversee and support the agency’s affairs and come up with policies for its every day function.

Dr Kallee said necessary measures will be taken once caregivers are seen not to meet the new standards. “The monitoring section will be reinforced,” he added.

The ASP, which has been administering the home care service till now, said that now that it is an agency instead of a small unit, it will professionalize the work, giving due attention to the noble task being done by the caregivers, who were not being valued.

ASP’s chief executive, Ms Morin, said “this was honest work and it merits its place in the professional world”.

The Seychelles Home Care Agency has said the transition will be completed in June when the agency will be fully operational and advised the public to listen to the radio for further announcements.

It is expected that in June, the application system will also be fully digitalised, whereby all transactions will be done online.

Once it is fully operational, the Seychelles Home Care Agency is expected to have around 15 employees.

Sunny Esparon