Don't send the old to nursing homes, Inten says
Don't send the old to nursing homes, Inten says
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Social Services Inten Suweno visited a site of a new old folks home in Semarang, Central Java, with a plea to people in the country not to send their aging parents to such homes unless they really have to.
"We embrace a familial system in which a family should care for their older relatives," Inten was reported as saying by Antara.
She said the government supports the development of new nursing homes, but these should be reserved strictly for those who really need the service, either because they had no one else who could take care of them, or because their families were too poor to be able to look after them.
She added that given that there are 26 million people in Indonesia who are classified as poor, there is a strong case for Indonesia to build more nursing homes.
The Central Java administration currently runs three nursing homes, in Ungaran, Pemalang and Cilacap. The 230 beds available there are already taken. A fourth nursing home is now being built in Plamongansari in East Semarang with 200 beds. It is expected to be completed in late May.
The government would welcome initiatives from private organizations to build nursing homes, Inten said during the visit which was accompanied by Semarang Mayor Soetrisno Suharto.
Officials said Indonesia's population is aging fast through a combination of successful family planning program and increasing life expectancy. They estimate that the number of senior citizens, those aged above 60 years, will increase from 7.7 million or 5.2% of the population in 1990, to 15.1 million or 7.2% of the population in 2000.
Most of the government-run nursing homes accommodate old people found wandering in the streets rather than being sent there by their children. In contrast, the privately run nursing homes usually accommodate old people sent by their children. They also tend to have better facilities than the state run institutions.
With the trend in Indonesia for people to live in smaller houses and apartments, there is a growing pressure on families to look for alternatives to looking after their grandparents themselves.
Given the government's policy of discouraging people from sending their elderly to nursing homes, a non-governmental organization is currently experimenting with a community project called Pusaka to help communities take care of their senior members.
The project, now being tried out in Jakarta, includes extending funds for the senior citizens to start a small business. (16)