Elderly care a priority for govt, says Minister

Manama : Bahrain is committed to providing the highest standards of services to the elderly, Labour Minister Jameel Humaidan confirmed.

This came during a special ceremony held under the patronage of the Minister at the Golden Tulip hotel in Manama yesterday.

While addressing an audience of charity oraganisations heads and members, lawmakers, officials and senior citizens, the Minister emphasised on the Kingdom’s concern about elder citizens.

Sharing some official statistics with the attendees, Humaidan revealed that the ministry is following a national strategy to aid the elderly and ensure their safety.

“We are working to increase elderly and parents care centre in the near future. Elderly day-care centres have increased lately. We have 10 registered centres that are currently operating smoothly. We’re expecting this number to increase by double in the next two years, mainly due to the increasing demand in the Kingdom,” he said, adding: “International studies showed that the numbers of people older than 60 years around the world would cross 1.4 billion in 2030.” 

The function came as part of the ministry’s commemorations of the Arab Day for Elderly Care and the International Day for the Elderly, in cooperation with a number of elderly care centres in the Kingdom and sponsors.

“This category in our community is well appreciated and is among the top priorities of the government,” the Minister added.