The heartless and our elders
st October is the date set apart to honour and celebrate elders the wo rl d ove r. Unfortunately while politicians marked the day with official ceremonies, on the streets of our country another tragedy is playing out.
Elderly persons – somebody’s parentsare being abandoned on the street opposite the For t Railway Station.
According to the authorities, an increasing number of persons are being brought here and abandoned.
Many of these abandoned elderly persons are brought to this location in vehicles said PC Jayantha Abeywickrama of the Police Post at the Fort Railway Station.
Many of them have children, he said, adding a large number of t hem we r e ove r 60-years-old and literally dumped in the evenings.
A number of these persons die by morning, unmourned and unwept.
Recently, a person abandoned the previous evening died on the pavement by early morning.
A few days ago, police officers found an elderly woman who had been abandoned at the station. “She did not want to go to hospital, but we called 1990 and asked for an ambulance as she was ill.
She said her name was Silva , f rom Ambalangoda,” PC Abeywickrama said.
Meanwhile, an official at the National Hospital said bodies of 25 persons, all aged over 65, are lying unclaimed at the hospital’s mortuary.