[ 2011-12-13 ]

Ghana's only home for the elderly closed down
The ageing population in the country is likely to
be bored stiff as the only and first-ever ageing
support centre in the country - HelpAge Ghana- has
been temporarily closed down due to over
population.

The non-governmental, non-religious and non-profit
making organization which has been operational
since 1988, served as a recreational health care
centre for retirees and other seniors who did not
have anything or anyone to occupy their time with.


It also provided health care, feeding and did
advocacy on behalf of the aged to ensure that they
were better represented in society. Staff of the
centre have currently embarked on an old people
monitoring exercise in the Volta, Ashanti and
parts of the Greater Accra regions.

The exercise aimed at scrutinizing the conditions
under which old people, especially the
incapacitated ones are catered for in such parts
of the country.

In an interview with The Globe newspaper, Vice
President of HelpAge Ghana, Edward Ameyibor, said
the activities of the organization would have been
more effective if they had more philanthropic
support.

For instance with their day care centres that have
been closed down, Mr. Ameyibor said “we used to
provide three square meals each day at the
centres, but it got to a time they started
complaining about the quality of food. Then we
started preparing different kinds of meals but at
the cost of 50 pesewas each day but that also
didn’t work out. We started running out of so we
closed down the centre, not just because of the
food but also because our facility didn’t have
the capacity to handle the rising numbers of
members”.

He said they couldn’t provide good health care
for the aged inmates as they should. “The very
essence of the centre was not being realized
anymore so we decided to shut it down for a while,
at least until the facility is improved and better
managed. ”

Mr. Ameyibor further called on organizations to
help support the early re-opening of the centre.
He also complained bitterly about the “constant
tagging of old-age as a disease. ”

“There are certain ailments associated with
ageing, but old age in itself is not a disease!
” Mr. Ameyibor said, adding that “one of the
things old people need most in this country, are
professional Geriatric Health practitioners”.

The Centre is thankful to government for passing
The National Policy on Ageing, a policy they had
pushed for over the past 10 years. They however
are encouraging government to move past the
implementation plan and speed up the
implementation process.

Source - Citifmonline

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