Nursing home says children hardly visit parents to avoid paying fees (Singapore)

The article below is about the problem of an aged population in Singapore where seemingly and increasingly more Singaporeans are abandoning their parents and not visiting them due to the fees need to paid to look after them. I do hope that in the future, your generation will not do the same and that each and everyone of you will appreciate your parents and look after them after they grow old.

Channel NewsAsia - Tuesday, August 25

SINGAPORE: Abandoning parents may not be common but it is becoming an emerging issue in Singapore

Five per cent of the elderly at Bright Hill Evergreen Home have not seen their children for some time. The home said the children do not visit so as to avoid paying ward fees.

Ninety per cent of some 140 elderly in the home have children who are unable to support them.

Staff at the nursing home said the children would cite reasons such as being busy with work, being ill or that they are having family problems.

The staff added that the elderly who have not seen their children in a long time are prone to depression, and most refuse treatment.

The home said they usually turn to counselling and games to help the elderly keep their minds off their children.

One elderly at the home said: "My children do not come over to visit me, they never came once."

Tang Yip Chong, head nurse, Bright Hill Evergreen Home, said: "The family normally has to pay (the ward fees) for a long time for the parents to stay in the home. (There is a) burden on them (the children), so after some time, they come (less often) to visit the patients so they can more or less escape paying the ward fees."

— CNA/yt

A Member of Parliament's view on Old Age in Singapore

Below is an article by Member of Parliment, Hri Kumar on the issue old age, and the problem of Singaporeans not wanting to take the responsibility of taking care of the elderly. I mentioned in class before as we talked about the consequences of having an aged population and that I hope that none of you would entertain the thought of sending your parents to the old age home when you grow up to be fathers on your own.

Read the blog post by Hri Kumar below and maybe ponder and think about what he said in his post, especially about putting in place legislation so that the aged would be taken care of (kind of sad, don't you think if a law has to be put in place to teach Singaporeans about filial piety?)

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OLD AGE

Taken from : http://hri-kumar.blogspot.com/2009/07/old-age.html

One of the hardest part of my job as MP is meeting elderly Singaporeans whose children are unwilling to support them. It is not just the challeges that they have to go through to make ends meet. The thought that your own flesh and blood have abandoned you must be infinitely more wounding. There is no single reason why they find themselves in this situation. I am sure not one side is completely to blame, just as no one is entirely blameless.

But whatever the cause, the elderly must be helped. How we should do this is the big question.

When (then) NMP Walter Woon introduced the Maintenace of Parents Bill in Parliament, it caused no end of controversy. Many felt that the Government should not interfere in family relationships and dynamics. I do not believe anyone wants this. It would not be necessary if everyone looked after their parents. But some do not. The counter is that the State should provide for the elderly, so that the children do not have to. That is one solution, but is this also what we want? First, many Singaporeans love and respect their parents, and will happily provide for them. That is a value we must preserve, and our policies should not discourage this. Second, should everyone then have to subsidise children who are not willing to discharge that responsibility? Because when one asks the State to pay, in reality it means that we all pay.

We then come to the group which poses the real difficulty: children who are willing to support their parents, but say that they cannot afford to. There are of course such genuine cases. But there are unfortunately also some who say they cannot afford it, but what they really mean is that maintaining their parents is not high on their list of priorities. So, we have recently read in the newspapers of people who say they cannot pay the nursing home charges for their parents, but can nonetheless afford cars. Should Singaporeans be subsidising this group?

So cases must be individually assessed, and where necessary, help will be given. The problem is that it is often difficult to define when help is necessary. The children's wages are a good yardstck, but imperfect. A person can have a higher wage, but larger fixed expenses. Then you have to go into which expenses are truly necessary and which are not. It is a minefield. Then there are cases where the children can afford it, but their parents do not want to file a case with the Maintenance Tribunal. That reluctance is understandable, but what is the solution then? Should Singaporeans subsidise such personal choices? If yes, who would want to go the Tribunal in the first place?

This is a difficult issue, and one which will become more challenging as our population ages.