Elderly care services to be expanded, improved

The Women’s General Association of Macau is advocating for expanded and enhanced elderly care services in the city, including regular rental discounts for seniors’ apartments and improvements to supporting facilities and smart elderly care.

Lawmaker Leong Sun Iok believes the government’s recent move to extend and expand a 20% discount on rental charges for seniors’ apartments is a positive step, but he hopes the discounts can be made permanent to further reduce the financial burden on senior residents.

Leong said numerous elderly individuals possess older tenement buildings that are harder to rent, coupled with a decline in rental prices that may not adequately cover their housing costs. He suggested that standardizing discounts on rental fees and making reasonable adjustments to rents, considering market trends and the financial situation of seniors, could lessen the burden on elderly residents and help maintain their quality of life.

Elam Ho, a member of the Elderly Affairs Committee and a representative of the Women’s General Association, said the expanded discounts have effectively reduced the financial burden on applicants and improved quality of life for the elderly.

As cited in a Macao Daily News report, Ho noted that as more seniors move into the apartments, they have increasing demands for surrounding living services and transportation facilities. She said the government needs to further optimize the aging-friendly configuration of the homes, improve barrier-free facilities and public transportation, and accelerate the construction of air corridors to create a truly elderly-friendly community.

In the long term, the Women’s General Association hopes the government will regularly analyze application and scoring data for the seniors’ apartments, optimize application criteria, and adjust the program or build additional apartments based on actual social needs. The association also wants to see an increase in the ratio of nursing homes, expanded caregiver subsidies, and the establishment of smart elderly care services to holistically improve the quality of life for the city’s seniors. Victoria Chan