(a) Assistance and care shall include aid, care, support, referral for service and such other special aid as the condition of the person may make necessary excluding medical or surgical care, nursing and other services and care available under medical assistance for needy persons (MA).

(b) Such assistance and care may not be given in a public institution other than a “medical institution.” A medical institution includes an intermediate care facility, public or private, and a public institution means an institution maintained by the State or local governmental unit including a school, or penal correctional facility, but not a facility operated or supervised by the Narcotics Addiction Control Commission or a residential facility for the mentally retarded licensed or operated by the Department of Mental Hygiene.