Political will needed to improve circumstances of elderly

As was noted in yesterday’s editorial, a collaborative workshop by the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of Social Protection and the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) announced the impending development of a Strategic Plan for the care of the elderly in Guyana. This Strategic Plan will reportedly cover the training of staff, improvement of infrastructure, and enhanced care and other services to the elderly with an added focus on mental health care and caring for persons with disabilities.

This initiative is without question both very necessary, given the poor state of the elderly care system in Guyana over many years, and long overdue, for the very same reason. The issue of the lack of appropriate care for the elderly has been widely covered in the media over the years, with various social commentators bemoaning the status quo as it related to the deficiency of adequate elderly care systems and facilities in Guyana.

This acknowledgement also seemed to come from the representative of the Ministry of Social Protection, Deputy Director of Social Services Ms Abike Benjamin-Samuels, when she said, “Over the years, elderly residential facilities have been operating unregulated in the absence of guidelines which would have been provided through the development of minimum standards for such facilities. In many instances, this resulted in our seniors being housed in derelict structures, subjected to abuse by caregivers, fed meals that do not cater to their dietary/nutritional needs and deprived of access to medical care.”

The point has been made before in these editorial pages and elsewhere in the media concerning the progressive aging of worldwide populations including the Guyanese population. This means that the demands on the elderly care system, such as currently exists, is also continuously increasing, even as physical facilities and resources are deteriorating with age. A case in point is the Palms Geriatric Home which despite being a government run facility, has suffered from insufficient upkeep and maintenance of its buildings and its accommodations for the residents. Conditions have improved significantly but in 2009, an audit report had pointed to the poorly maintained facilities, lack of fire safety systems, and overall non-compli-

ance with WHO Guidelines on Facilities for Older Persons and Geriatric Standards for the comfort of the residents. Real efforts have to be made to ensure that there is no return to this.

In a column in this newspaper, Dr Henry Jeffrey quoted from Guyana’s National Report on Aging (2012) as follows: “Even though, the growing ageing population and the concomitant changes this will bring are viewed as a major socio-economic challenge for Guyana, other competing development priorities have overtaken the national agenda. Besides political will, careful planning led by the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security, with other related government ministries, non-governmental sectors and individuals is required to ensure that economic security, health and caring, and environmental systems remain sustainable into the future.”

Almost a full five years after, it must be asked whether the impending “major socio-economic challenge for Guyana” that our aging population presents is being adequately prepared for, or whether the “competing development priorities” are still sapping the “political will” of those who must advance this agenda and access the financial resources necessary for upgrading our elderly care systems.

All cynicism aside, however, the current collaboration by the Ministries and PAHO to produce a Strategic Plan designed to enhance the Care of the Elderly in Guyana, as well meaning and necessary as this is, must not peter out with the production of another white paper which remains unimplemented. Particularly, it is not clear that financial resources will flow on completion of the Strategic Plan to allow for its proper implementation within an acceptable timeframe.

But there is much that can be done immediately to begin the change in the caring environment for the elderly in Guyana without waiting for the completion of this paper. Simple interventions starting with our singular government run institution for the elderly which is the Palms Geriatric can conceivably go a long way to improving the standard of care currently delivered at this government-run institution.

Improving the working conditions for caregivers and the living conditions for current residents should not require a separate study as the existing

minimum standards laid down by the WHO should suffice for this purpose. The Strategic Plan, however, would cater for more long term and systembased issues such as staff training, necessary dramatic changes to the physical infrastructure of the buildings (as opposed to mere repairs and maintenance), expansion of the reach of the government facilities for the elderly in the regions, and oversight of privately run care facilities for the elderly.

Government subventions for similar entities to the Palms such as the Uncle Eddie’s Home in Tucville should also be meaningful and designed to achieve some specific purpose, while private homes run with a commercial intent would be subject to appropriate oversight.

It is a truism that the level of sophistication of a country and its people can be determined by the way the vulnerable segments of the society are treated, usually referring to the very young and the very old but also those with disabilities. In Guyana, our treatment of the vulnerable segments of our society leaves much to be desired, but there are increasing signs that things are beginning to change.

In November, 2015 under the patronage of the Office of the First Lady, Mrs Sandra Granger, a “Care of the Elderly” training programme was held for caregivers at the Recreation Centre of the Palms Geriatric Home. However, these initiatives, while good, generally lose their impact because of the lack of an overall cohesive programme binding these initiatives together.

This is why the collaborative planning efforts of the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Social Protection working in tandem with PAHO must be followed up by the political will to implement the recommendations that will flow from the Strategic Plan.

Our present and future senior citizens deserve much better state-run elderly care facilities than what currently obtains.