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Elders’ home owners, residents in dire straits 

01 Nov 2022

  • Children relocating parents from suburban elders’ homes to remote homes with minimal facilities    
BY Buddhika Samaraweera Due to the rising prices of commodities including food, sanitary items, and pharmaceutical drugs, alongside recent hikes in electricity and water tariffs, it is being reported that owners of elderly care service establishments located in the suburbs including in Colombo and other remote areas are facing difficulties in maintaining their operation. Meanwhile, a growing trend among children of elderly parents relocating them to elderly care facilities in the suburbs to those located in remote areas with fewer facilities is also on the rise due to the children’s inability to pay higher charges in the former. Speaking to The Morning, Dr. Harischandra Yakandawala, who oversees an elderly care facility named “Village 60 Plus”, said that the prices of almost every commodity such as food and sanitary items needed to operate the facility have increased in the recent past, while electricity tariffs have also gone up significantly. Following the recent hikes in electricity tariffs, he said that the electricity bill at the facility has increased by about Rs. 100,000.  “As it is our responsibility to make them (occupants of the elderly care homes) comfortable, we cannot switch off the fans and lights even at night; they have to therefore be kept on throughout the entire day. However, it has become increasingly difficult for us to afford the electricity bill following the tariff hikes.  “In addition to these charges, the prices of food items and other commodities have also gone up. Furthermore, if we hire an attendant to look after a certain elder, we have to pay them between Rs. 3,500 and Rs. 4,000 a day in addition to providing food for the person,” he said.  Speaking further, Dr. Yakandawala said that he currently cares for nearly 100 elderly people in his facility and stated that it is impossible to increase the fees charged under the current conditions. He noted that the people who make the relevant payments on behalf of the elders, often their children, are also facing many financial difficulties in the current context, where the expenditure has increased a lot compared to the income. “It is the Government that should take care of elderly parents, which is what happens in other parts of the world. However, there are no such social security arrangements in Sri Lanka. Under these conditions, the Government should provide some form of relief to those who provide these facilities. We have been having a very difficult time since the Covid-19 pandemic, but there has been no such relief. Our current situation is that we are unable to maintain these facilities anymore but we can’t close down operations either, because these elders have been here for a long time. So we have a responsibility to take care of them,” he added. Meanwhile, an official from an elderly care service provider in the Bandaragama area, when contacted by The Morning, said that since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, they have been facing a number of serious financial issues. Affirming the statements made by other service providers who spoke to The Morning, he said that it has become extremely difficult to operate the facility due to reasons such as food and fuel prices and electricity and water charges having increased rapidly within a very short span of time.  “In recent times, the prices and fees of all commodities and services have increased. We cannot expect the customers to be able to keep paying higher and higher fees. Therefore, we have refrained from increasing the fees till now. However, it is very difficult to run a facility that provides services to more than 30 adults. The Government should understand that the elderly form the most vulnerable group in society and that should therefore definitely intervene to ensure their welfare. I can confirm that elder care service providers have been experiencing a difficult time for quite a long time,” he added. The owner of another elderly care service provider also told The Morning that the institution is facing severe difficulties in the current economic situation, especially in view of the rapid increase in costs. He said that due to the Government imposing excessive taxes on the importation of sanitary items such as pampers, which are essential in the provision of elderly care services, their prices have increased by more than two-fold compared to the prices that were prevalent in the past few months.  “There are nearly 100 elderly people and we have 30 employees. We provide food, medical facilities, nursing facilities, etc., to the elderly. In addition to the expenditure on such, we have to spend a lot on maintenance and the payment of the salaries of the employees. Earlier, we got help from certain institutions and organisations in the form of grants and dry ration donations, but now we hardly receive similar aid as they too are going through a difficult time,” she mentioned. Furthermore, a person who runs an elderly care service centre in the vicinity of the city of Colombo mentioned that due to the inability to make the related payments on behalf of their parents receiving services in the current situation, there is a tendency among some children or guardians to relocate their parents to cheaper facilities located in other distant areas. However, he said that those facilities often offer poor conditions, adding that there is a risk of such conditions adversely affecting the welfare of the elderly.

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