The establishment of Day Care Centers for the elderly has been approved this week by the Higher Committee for Social Affairs at the UAE Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, according to Khaleej Times. The Committee has approved a project to form a National Committee for care of the elderly to make sure that all matters concerned with this age group are integrated in national development plans and to involve the private sector in enhancing their support to the aged.
Obaid Ghanem, Head of Special Categories Care Department at the Ministry, stated that the number of aged citizens would reach 83,000 in the year 2005 and would increase to 150,000 in the year 2015 and to 292,000 in the year 2025.
Resting homes, mobile service units and social and cultural clubs will be established across the UAE with the onset of the Day Care Centers project, thus easing the lives of the elderly population. The various Day Care Centers will host the aged for several hours a day or for a couple of days if necessary, where they could meet with other people their age and enjoy activities in which their own families could even take part.
The Centers will be accommodated with facilities such as a swimming pool, a gym, a physiotherapy center, a library, a clinic, a restaurant, entertainment halls and a rest home.
Mobile services units will offer health, social and psychological services to the elderly at their houses. Nurses, Doctors and volunteers from these units will visit the aged at their homes in order to offer them assistance. (Albawaba.com)
