Awareness on elder care declining among youth

KUALA LUMPUR: The awareness on elder care among the young people in the country has been seen to have declined, which has led to various abuse cases involving senior citizens, according to Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Hannah Yeoh.

She said abuse cases involving senior citizens, which had been rampant of late, were mostly due to financial problems faced by the family members.

“For example, there were cases where the senior citizens had to hand over their money, and their property or houses as they were no longer capable of managing it themselves due to old age or health factors.

“Worse still, some of them were even chased out of their own house once their children gained ownership of the property and their money,” she told reporters after flagging off the participants of the Grandparents Day Walkathon 2018 here yesterday.

Yeoh said the government had always been concerned about the wellbeing of senior citizens and had established various activity centres and facilities for the group with the help of local authorities.

Meanwhile, Associate Professor Dr Noran Hairi from Universiti Malaya (UM) Department of Medicine said at least one in every 10 senior citizens in the country were reported to have experienced financial abuse.

He said a study titled ‘Prevent Elders Abuse and Neglect Initiative’ carried out by the department in 2015, also revealed that senior citizens had the most potential to be exploited or to become the target of financial abuse.

“Our country has yet to have a law or regulations to address the issues concerning the senior citizens. However, we have submitted a proposal to the relevant ministry to formula a law specifically for this group as they were also vulnerable to physical, emotional and sexual abuse,” she added. - Bernama