Do we really know how to care for the elderly?
SINGAPORE’s Lee Kuan Yew has just celebrated his 90th birthday a few days ago on Sept 16. Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is 89. Former US President George HW Bush is also 89. Then we have the recently retired Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI who is 86.
The oldest of them all is perhaps Nelson Mandela. Although ailing in hospital today, the former South African president turned 95 last July 18.
Back home, we have our very own Dr Mahathir Mohamad. At 88, our octogenarian ex-PM is still an alert critic of current issues affecting the nation. I guess our good doctor will be around for many years yet.
These are well known figures who have been blessed with long life. That they are still around today should dispel some of the oft-misunderstood myths of human longevity. Many could actually live long, meaningful lives if they maintain a healthy lifestyle and are mentally strong to shut off stress and depression.
Recently, there was a report that the world’s oldest person has turned 116 as local health chiefs in Japan launch a study to find out why he and many of those around him have lived so long.
Jiroemon Kimura, who was born in 1897, celebrated his astonishing milestone with friends and family. Kimura is one of 95 people who will be 100 years old or more in the city’s 60,000-strong population.
According to a 2012 global report, life expectancy around the world has risen dramatically, by 11 years for men and 12 years for women over the last four decades.
Monaco has the highest life expectancy in the world at 89.68 years while Chad has the lowest at 48.69 years.
The current average life expectancy of a Malaysian is 75 years according to the 2010 National Population and Housing census. With better public healthcare programmes, the number is expected to rise.
Then, we have to face reality and seriously ask the question of how we, Malaysians, take care of the elderly.
Is our nation ready for the challenges of its increasing number of the elderly? In 2010, about 7% of the world’s population was older than 65. In Malaysia, it is 4.7% which means there are approximately 1.35 million elderly in our country now.
It is estimated that we will grow to 41.7 million in 2050 and we would be experiencing an aging society as the elderly will be around 2-3 million.
The aged are prone to dwindling abilities, illnesses and dementia. Are we and the nation ready to take care of two million elderly?
I read with interest an article on the subject written by Megawati Omar of Petaling Jaya in a national daily last week.
The writer suggested the setting up of a communal support system as social support is known to have reduced stress for those having new babies and that this can be practised in looking after the bedridden as well.
“The neighbourhood may have a committee to list families who have people needing round-the-clock care. The committee can then produce a roster for volunteers to visit and care. Secondly, as we have nurses for palliative care, the government can create a formal post to bathe the bedridden.
“Attending to a bedridden person is expensive. To overcome this, in Japan, there is nursing care insurance. We too can introduce nursing care insurance to reduce financial burden of the children having to care for their elderly parents.”
Megawati also suggested that the local governments be tasked to devise a system to register the bedridden in its jurisdiction.
“When the list of the ill is available and kept by an authority, it is easier for the bedridden communal care to be practised,” she said.
Perhaps the most important point made by the writer is the need to reinforce the teachings of moral obligation of gratitude to parents among the younger generation from young.
“It will sustain our culture of cherishing those who have shaped us to their last breath,” Megawati added.
It is true that religions, beliefs and sacred texts emphasise that children cherish parents in health and sickness. However, some remain unaware of these holy teachings and their parents are left unattended in sickness.
On a personal note, I remain forever proud of my siblings in Kuching who had nursed and cared for our parents when they were both ill and bedridden for several years before they passed on.
I suppose filial piety is not something which can be taught or forced upon. It is imbued inside you and is a spontaneous act. This reverence for parents is also considered in Chinese ethics the prime virtue and the basis of all right human relations.
But clearly, many Chinese children have conveniently forgotten that. We do not have to look far for an example. Singapore passed a Maintenance of Parents Act in 1995 requiring its citizens to care for parents aged 60 and older, ill and needy.
It would be a shame if we also need to impose such law in Malaysia. Do we seriously need a rule to compel us to look after our elderly folks?
Most parents will be very sad in their sunset years if they are tended to by their children only because the law says so. It should have been love that they are cherished by their kids in their old age.
For me, I doubt I want to live up to the age of Nelson Mandela or Lee Kuan Yew. I also wouldn’t want to be feeble, sick and bed-ridden in my final years.
If it’s my decision to make, then I prefer to go quickly and quietly while in deep sleep – just like the way the Lord took my father nine years ago.
I’m sure you would have chosen that path too. Then again, that’s not our call.
Source: Borneo Post
Published: 21 Sept 2013