Speakers at a webinar here on Monday stressed the need for utilizing the skills and experiences of older persons as they are growing in number gradually with the rise of life expectancy in the country.
Now the people aged 60 years and above are considered elderly ones in Bangladesh and the average life expectancy is 72.6 years. And it is projected that the older persons would increase to 21 percent (45 million) of the country’s population by 2050 from 9.05 percent (15.3 million) in 2020, they said.
Since a person lives on average for 13 to 15 more years after reaching their old age (60yrs), the older persons can play a significant role in the society in various ways through their acquired knowledge and experiences, said the speakers.
Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) arranged the webinar titled “Uplifting the Quality of the Lives of the Elderly People Programme,” marking the International Day of Older Persons-2022, which was observed on Saturday last (October 01). This year, the day’s theme was ‘Resilience of Older Persons in a Changing World.’
PKSF Managing Director Dr Nomita Halder presided over the function moderated by its additional managing director Dr Jashim Uddin.
“The country and the nation will be greatly benefited if a database is created based on the skills of the elderly persons and they can be given opportunities to participate in suitable works according to their abilities,” said former deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank and PKSF governing body member Nazneen Sultana.
She emphasized on launching a universal pension scheme and ensuring free medical treatment for the elderly citizens.
PKSF Deputy General Manager Gokul Chandra Biswas in his keynote paper said the number of older persons is 15.3 million, which is 9.5 percent of the country’s total population of 160 million as per the statistics of 2020.
But it is projected that the number of older persons would be 45 million in 2050 and they would be 21 percent of the total population in the country, he said.
Dr Nomita in her speech termed various initiatives taken by PKSF as a ‘catalyst’ to improve the quality of life of senior citizens and requested the allied organizations to take these initiatives forward.
The speakers also said the government has taken a number of initiatives, including old age allowance, pension, retirement benefits, widow allowance and VGF to improve the life of senior citizens. But still there are some challenges in ensuring a dignified life for the senior citizens in the changing world
They urged the government to address these challenges by launching a universal pension scheme for senior citizens, ensuring proper implementation of the ‘Parent’s Care Act, 2013’ and providing healthcare to senior citizens at free or subsidized costs, and giving priority to them in the hospitals as per the National Policy on Older Persons, 2013.
Source: United News of Bangladesh