New master plan for elderly care to be drafted
Social Development and Human Security Juti Krairiksh said he would speed up the drafting of a new master plan for elderly care and submit it for the Cabinet’s approval within a month.
Juti was speaking to reporters on Tuesday while accompanying a team of doctors from the Police General Hospital to provide medical checkups for residents of the Ban Bang Kae home for the elderly. The hospital provided free medical checkups for 240 residents of the home to make merit to mark the 67th birthday anniversary of His Majesty the King.
In drafting the master plan and subsequent operation plans, the Social Development and Human Security Ministry would take the results of research and opinion surveys undertaken conducted by various agencies into account, Juti said.
He added that the ministry would also hold workshops for representatives of all sectors on how to provide the best care for the elderly.
“The policy on the elderly cannot merely be a policy from the government or a minister. It must be the policy of all the people in the country,” Juti said.
He said he would speed up the drafting of the master plan and operational plans and send them for the Cabinet’s approval and budget allocation so that they could be enforced immediately.
Juti said he would like to call on the Budget Bureau to increase funding for homes for the elderly like Ban Bang Kae so that the residents receive better care. He noted that the budget for such homes had not been raised for a long time.
Juti said he would have Ban Bang Kae and other government-run reception homes send samples of meals for the elderly under their care to the Budget Bureau chief, himself, and Cabinet members to try so that budget could be increased if the food is not good enough.
Juti also called on well-to-do people to show kindness to the disadvantaged seniors in the homes, taking time to visit them and give them some gifts and food as the elderly had worked hard for their country.
