Caring for the Elderly and Malta's National Health Scheme

Abstract

Caring for the Elderly and Malta's National Health Scheme One of the most significant global developments of this century is the dramatic increase in the number and proportion of aging persons. Demographic trends indicate that in the next few decades the number of the elderly will reach over one billion, with 75 percent living in developing countries. Persons sixty and over today make up about 13 percent of Malta's total population of 358,000 and may reach 23 percent by the first half of the next century. This increase has given rise to greater demand for state provisions, which is reinforced by the spread of modernization, migration, and changing family and kinship support systems. Despite the cultural values in Malta that strongly uphold the responsibility of children to care for their parents, the family as a basic social unit is undergoing profound changes. Declining fertility rates coupled with the survival of parents is increasing the relative burden placed on family members to support the elderly. Consequently, the government of Malta has assumed some of the families' traditional responsibilities. The government is committed to develop policies and programs to enhance the lives of the elderly and to mitigate by appropriate measures any negative effects resulting from the aging population's impact on development. The government has already taken an important step by designating a Parliamentary Secretariat for the Care of the Elderly entrusted with organizing services to provide the best possible conditions for the elderly. A major policy issue at present is finding a proper balance between family and government assistance, so that the family may continue to respond to the needs of its elderly members, knowing that outside care is available when critically required. Providing community and home-based care for older persons is becoming a central measure in the government's policy for supporting the family. The government also recognizes the important role of voluntary organizations in reaching these objectives. To develop quality services for the elderly, the Secretariat for the Care of the Elderly is developing long- and short-term education and training policies and programs in gerontology and geriatrics. Through the Institute of Gerontology, the government, in cooperation with the University of Malta, is making education and training in the various aspects of aging available at all levels. Further, the government is converting a former general hospital into an acute geriatric teaching hospital with 100 beds that, besides providing for the rehabilitation of elderly patients, will also serve as a day hospital and a center for the distribution of medicine and other related services. Malta's International Institute on Aging In April 1988, U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar inaugurated the International Institute on Aging in Valetta, Malta. …