‘The elderly’s problems are not government’s priority’

“The elderly’s problems are not the government’s priority,” House Labour committee chairman and Akel MP Andreas Kafkalias charged on Tuesday.

Speaking at a committee meeting regarding services for the elderly, he said problems faced by the elderly discussed by the committee as far back as six years ago have “not received any response” from the government.

Those problems, he said, include matters such as the institutional care allowance, which currently amounts to €750 per month while outgoings for such care regularly exceed €1,400 per month.

Additionally, he made reference to the matter of installations of “red buttons” in elderly people’s homes, which they could press when in need of emergency assistance.

This matter, he said, “has been pending since 2019” following a relevant cabinet decision. However, in the intervening five years, no update on the status of the plan has been given to the committee by either of two serving governments.

He also spoke about the matter of pension payments, saying the social welfare deputy minister will be summoned to a forthcoming committee meeting to answer questions on the matter.

Disy MP Fotini Tsiridou said issues facing the elderly “must be looked into immediately.”

She brought to the agenda the matter of car insurance, with premiums for drivers over the age of 70 much increased compared to younger drivers.

She said the five per cent increase in the low-income pensioners’ allowance “for most people amounted to an increase between three and eleven euros, which, in the conditions in which we live today, is not a real increase.”