Govt. departments that add to the woes of senior citizens

Last month my very active friend of 90 plus fell off a bus and sustained a fracture. Now she is bedridden. She resides in an elders’ Home in Wellawatte. She is a retired teacher. I visited her on February 9, when the Matron of the Home informed me of the problems she is facing with the officers of the Department of Pensions in trying to get my friend’s pension.

She had taken the Grama Niladari Report plus the Medical Report, but the officers of the department had refused to accept the reports. They had insisted that the Matron bring my friend to the Department. The Matron will have to get an ambulance to take her to this office.

In an elders’ home it is not possible for the Matron to do this. She is responsible for more than 50 other seniors.

In a similar, but different situation was a widow, a relative of a fairly well known stage actor of yesteryear. This widow could not draw her pension as she had no postal address. She would go to the Post Office, spend the whole day trying to get her pension. This had gone on for over six months. The kindly Postmistress said that it was sad to see her seated on a bench, munching a bun but unable to get her pension. Her situation was that she had ‘no fixed abode’.

The Postmistress contacted me and with difficulty I managed to locate a relative. The Postmistress had even taken the trouble to find an Elders’ Home for this senior citizen. After much trouble a relative was located and now she is able to get her pension.

Senior citizens and their families face innumerable problems. But it is sad when government departments add to these problems, instead of, like the caring Postmistress trying to solve them. Sujatha Wickramasinghe Samarajiwa

Via email