Prioritise services to senior citizens

MALAYSIA is a caring nation. We get BR1M, while civil servants and government pensioners get annual bonus. Most people are kind and courteous to warga emas. Whenever my wife and I travel on KTMB, we always get seated no matter how crowded the train is. KTMB has time and again reminded its passengers to offer their seats to the needy.

However, this is sometimes found wanting in banks and government health clinics in Seremban.

As my wife and I are over 85 years old, we were given a special number denoting our status. But what good is such a number when we have to wait for over an hour, like all the others, before we are attended to. Fortunately some bank officers, on their own initiative, give us priority to cut short our waiting time.

Once I attended a senior camp fellowship in Penang. At dinner time, I was amused when I was “nudged” out of the food queue by some junior members. Then there was a function organised by Seremban Chan Wa OBA (Class 1986), where I was given preferential treatment. Cynics might say this is a oneoff act of kindness. I disagree because I can still discern a genuine caring act from a put-on pretense.

I go to Selayang Hospital regularly for my eye treatment. I appreciate and admire the doctors and support staff for their selfless treatment of all patients. Sometimes, people ask irrelevant questions but they are answered professionally. I notice that the hospital is experimenting with the best way to deal with the increasing number of patients. Elderly patients above a certain age group can be given coloured cards and numbers to be easily identified for priority treatment.

Malaysia may not be the first in many things but let us lead the world in how we treat our warga emas.