MINALOC denounces households that send their elderly in centers

The MINALOC department in charge  of family affairs  denounces the habit that increasingly infects Rwandan households to sent their elderly ones in centers to be taken care of.

Mr Hakizimana Vedaste ,who heads the department, said that this is caused by greed which is affecting Rwandan families.

He said that during a press conference that took place yesterday  at the RBC (Rwanda  Biomedical Center) offices in Kigali.

The press conference discussed on the mental illnesses and the ways to reduce their impacts on elderly people healthy.

For Hakizimana Vedaste , sending elderly in the care centers is rooted in the greedy whereby family members do want to permanently take care of them because of the costs  it requires.

He said the MINALOC has reports on sad wishes of young  people on  their elderly parents’ death  so to take hold of their properties.

Hakizimana advised families to involve the elders in developmental policies set up by the government so to help them pass their late age decently.

He urged the families that are financially fit to constantly care of their elderly because if they are not taken care of during their late ages, they encounter different mental illnesses that sometimes  lead them to suicide.

Among the projects to help the elderly include the Gira inka project, giving  them houses for accommodation, a monthly financial package  for their survival, etc.

The WHO(World Health Organisation) defines the elderly as every human person who is  60 years old and above.

Scholars consider the elderly as libraries adding that of one dies , a library burns.

Research has shown that worldwide there are  not less that than 800,000,000 while in Rwanda  the statistics say that  6% of all Rwandans are in late ages.

According to the previsions the  number of the elderly people will exceed 2 billion of individuals in 2050 according to the statistics.

Daddy Sadiki RUBANGURA

UM– USEKE.RW