Not all elderly want to live in the care centre. But if they live in their homes, who will cook and carry out household activities?
Tasikmalaya, West Java (ANTARA) - Mitigating the social issue of single elderly in Indonesia requires a lot of fund allocation, Social Affairs Minister Tri Rismaharini stated.

"We will handle it intensively because it is not cheap and easy, because there is no caretaker," she noted while delivering a speech during National Elderly Day event here on Sunday.

"We will handle it in detail," she added.

One of the methods to handle this issue is by encouraging Workers Social Security Agency's (BPJS Ketenagakerjaan's) financing scheme, she informed.

She hoped that the fund allocation could also cover medical check-up cost, midwives assistance, elderly care centre creation, and daily needs subsidy for benefit recipients.

"Not all elderly want to live in the care centre. But if they live in their homes, who will cook and carry out household activities? We usually take them to the centre," she remarked.

"If we can, we can assist in giving them food from the care centre with the help of local RT/RW (neighborhood coordinators)," she added.

To this end, the Social Affairs Ministry pushes for the existence of Integrated Guidance Post (Posbindu) Program across Indonesia.

"However, we have to talk with the National Development Planning Ministry/National Development Planning Agency (PPN Ministry/Bappenas) and the Finance Ministry on how to handle this issue," the minister said.

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To help single elderly people, the ministry provides free electricity in cooperation with state-owned electric company PT PLN.

In addition, the government also provides two aid packages for the elderly, namely direct cash aid and social aid in the form of basic necessities.

"The problem is that there is no one to take care of them and they depend on their neighbors for food. Even if they have the money, they cannot cook and buy food," Rismaharini highlighted.


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Single elderly is a condition in which people at the age of 65 years and above are abandoned because their families have left them and they have to take care of themselves.

According to the data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS) in 2021, Indonesia's elderly population reached 29.3 million or equivalent to 10.82 percent from the country's total population.

Around 43.29 percent of these elderly people came from households included in the country's bottom 40 percent spending group.


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Translator: Andi Firdaus, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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