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Gov't must replicate elderly care centers in all MMDAs - Ellembele MP

Former Minister of Energy and Member of Parliament (MP) for Ellembele, Emmanuel Kofi Armah Buah has urged government to create care centers for the elderly and Persons with disability (PWD) in all districts in Ghana.

Date Created : 10/14/2018 11:56:58 PM : Story Author : Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanadistricts.com

According to the former Energy Minister as a country we need to make care for the elderly and person with disability (PWD) our top most priority. “Our old people are not witches, they are not evil, all they need is attention and a place to meet friends and talk about old times”, he lamented.

He made this remarks over the weekend when he marked three years of creating a centre he named after her mother, Aya Community in Ellembele which had cared for forty-nine thousand elderly persons.

On rotational bases, elderly persons are cared for from Monday to Friday, they get the opportunity to interact among themselves and receive medical care.

Mr. Emmanuel Kofi Armah Buah, recounted that three years ago elderly persons he taught were sick, he realized were not actually sick, all they needed was companionship, “you could see the excitement and joy of they being at this centre”.

And recounted how her mother became homeless in Ellembele, when his father passed away as a postmaster and they were kicked out of the government building they were occupying, when he was only seven years old.

He further pointed out that three years ago on his camping rounds, he got to a house in the constituency where an elderly woman aged eighty had been left at home, without a meal neither had she taken her bath.

And praised government for introducing the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) for the elderly, but was quick to add that the time has come for government to refocus its attention.

“Why should an elderly have to struggle to find a place to live, in the last population census six percent of Ghana’s twenty-eight thousand population are older people, seventy-one percent of them are just perching with their relatives or somebody’s benevolence, it is time for government to institute a housing scheme for the elderly, through government private partnership”, he said.

He further added that, “if we are going to be blessed by God, this are basics God requires of us as a country to take care of the vulnerable first before other things. So our priorities is directly opposite in Ghana if you look at the budget we allocate for the elderly and individuals with disability, is just a footnote” he lamented