Macau Matters | Caring for the Elderly – II

Richard Whitfield

My last article (Feb 3) pointed out the growing global problem of support for the elderly and identified some inadequacies in the related healthcare and social services in Macau. I pointed out that we can afford to do much better and that we should demand much better from our government.
However, I did not have space to consider housing issues for the elderly, which I will do here.
Historically, in most parts of the world children have been responsible for looking after their elders. But this approach is breaking down and responsibility for looking after the elderly is shifting to institutions and governments. Smaller families mean that there are fewer children to look after their elders. Moreover, the costs of looking after them are increasing and the duration of care is getting longer.
I live 10 hours by plane from my parents but I am lucky and have three siblings who live very close to my parents and visit them regularly. This situation will be rare in future generations so that governments and community institutions must take a leading role and is an area where the Macau government needs to take a stronger lead.
For example, while I have many other misgivings about Macau’s approach to public housing, one major concern is a lack of healthcare and community service support for the elderly in these estates.   The local council organises cleaning help and some meal delivery services for many parents, but I have never heard of this kind of support for the elderly in Macau. I am sure that it is, and will increasingly be, needed.
Another major concern that I have is nursing home oversight. Where I live some of the commercial spaces in the estate were converted into a nursing home some years ago. I have no problem with having a nursing home in the estate, but I do have great concerns about how it was done and the government oversight of these facilities. The sewerage and other infrastructure in the estate was designed for commercial use of the space and so is not adequate for a nursing home. But the conversion was permitted and major retrofitting works did not seem to be done, which casts serious questions over the competence of the government departments responsible for approving the change of use.
I have not been closely monitoring the situation but I have noticed that the nursing home residents seem to be left alone in the public spaces in the estate quite a bit and the nursing home does not seem to make any efforts to improve these public spaces. In fact they seem to use these spaces as work areas for hanging washing, etc. Thus, I seriously question the quality of life of the residents. I have seen no evidence and no public information to show that the government is monitoring nursing homes to ensure that they are well run.
Finally, I have seen staff from the nursing home wearing gloves and face masks dispose of waste in street-side rubbish bins which seems to be totally inappropriate. Control and safe disposal of medical waste is a serious public health issue and the Macau government does not seem to be doing its job in this area.
I fully agree that governments must take the lead to manage and control residential care and support for the elderly and they must have a general strategy and provide good oversight. This issue is only going to get more important in the future, so that the Macau government should be looking to devote more resources and improve the situation. It is what our elderly deserve.