In recent years, there have been a number of cases in which elderly people passed away due to the sudden death of their carers, including a case that happened in Kwun Tong earlier. Prof WONG pointed out that the circumstances of each case varied greatly, and there was no specific type of carer, ranging from those living in public housing to those living in private buildings; from caring service users to those caring for their elders on their own, making it very difficult to identify the cases, and the carers were often under immense pressure, or even experiencing depression, and that the first priority was to successfully reach out to them.
Prof WONG mentioned that hospitals, elderly centres and the Housing Department have the easiest access to the elderly households and most likely to be the first to detect problems. They could step up their visits to identify potential cases for early prevention, and that more manpower and resources should be allocated to focus on such projects. He also added that the Jockey Club was working with a number of non-governmental organisations to implement relevant pilot projects, and consideration could be given to further scaling up if they proved to be effective.
Prof WONG pointed out that the resources currently allocated to carer support in Hong Kong were not enough. Taking Japan as an example, with an ageing population of about 25%, the resources allocated to long-term caring services accounted for about 2% of its GNP, whereas in Hong Kong, with an ageing population of about 22%, the amount of resources allocated only accounted for 0.6% of the GNP, which was obviously insufficient, and it was hoped that there would be an increase in the number of such services.
Please visit: RTHK 千禧年代
(The related media coverage is in Chinese version only.)
