Stop the abandoning of elderly citizens at the hospital, says Minister of State in the Ministry of Health Davidson Ishmael.
He said our senior citizens deserved better after contributing to the society.
The Member of Parliament for St Michael North was speaking as the House of Assembly debated the National Policy on Ageing resolution.
He said a major part of the policy was to ensure that senior citizens had access to the best health care services, but there were some gaps in the services.
“Unfortunately, we do have a phenomenon in our country where. . . I wouldn’t say many . . . there are some persons within our society who are bringing their elderly family members to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and leaving them there.
“It is an unfortunate reality that we’re facing. In many cases, these persons are nursed back to good health. They don’t need to be at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital any longer, but there’s nobody there to take them back to their homes. It’s heart-breaking, and it is something that they would like to discourage,” Ishmael said.
He appealed to Barbadians not to take that approach to the elderly who had contributed to society.
“They deserve better than that, and wherever we see it, we will stamp it out. Wherever we can do something about it, we will address it, but we’re encouraging the people of Barbados not to continue in this regard,” he added.
Ishmael said that the geriatric facility in the Waterford/Belle, St Michael area, which in phase one would have about 500 beds, will expand services. Upon completion, the facility will take Barbados’ health care service in relation to the elderly to another level, he said.
Meanwhile, his colleague Minister of Labour Colin Jordan said he would not be “overly harsh” on Barbadians who were not fully thinking things through and acted out their frustration or inability to cope by ignoring or abandoning their challenges when they could not find help.
He said that the reality of the statistics shared still shocked him when it was said that in a few years most of the population will be at or over 65 years.
He said just as the households were having challenges addressing the needs of caring for older persons, that too was a challenge at the national level.
“I appeal to Barbadians to adopt Government’s approach by acknowledging there is a situation and put plans in place to address them. We can’t wish challenges away; we have to confront them, face [them] and fix [them],” he said.
Meanwhile, Ishmael said there was a level of ageism among young adults trying to shelf people who had made significant contributions and those who still had the capacity to contribute.
“And I think that we must, as a government, come against that mindset, that ethos, that way of operating. We must become a more inclusive or embracing country relative to our elderly and encourage them to play the most active roles they can play, but we must support them in being able to play these roles,” he said. (AC)
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