Agency
The Provost and Medical Director of Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, Abeokuta, Dr Afis Agboola, has decried the growing abuse of elderly persons.
He said it is unfortunate that people prioritised chasing after money at the expense of their aged ones.
Agboola stated this during the 2024 Elder’s Abuse Awareness Day held at the conference hall of the neuropsychiatric facility.
He condemned the rising waves of abuse of elderly persons just because they are old, noting that such age would always come with its natural challenges.
The MD noted that everyone must get involved to fight every effort aimed at denigrating or bringing discomfort to the elderly.
According to him, elders as repositories of knowledge and wisdom, saying that they must be seen as prized citizens who should be accorded due dignity, care and honour at all times
He said, “The abuse of the elderly persons in our society is real, both in informal and formal settings.
“By informal setting, I mean in our homes where even the person employed to take care of the elderly ones are maltreating them and by formal setting, I mean in the old people’s homes run mainly abroad where even the caregivers the government employed to take care of these aged are neglecting them, the reason they now have CCTV cameras installed to check such callous acts.
“It is even sad that we are now having the challenge in our midst in Africa because we are known to be taking care of our elderly ones, but these days, we seem to have prioritised chasing after money over taking care of these aged fathers, mothers, uncles, aunties who were there for us while we were growing up.”
Agboola called on the people to have a change of heart as everyone will one day grow old, and weak and will never pray to be disrespected or dehumanised on account of ageing, which no one has control over.
The keynote speaker and Executive Director of the Centre on Aging Development and Rights of Older Persons, Mr Olayinka Ajomale, said that by 2050, the population of older adults would have increased from about 900 million in 2015 to two billion with over 320 million experiencing one form of abuse or the other.
He said this meant that one in every six elders translating to 15.7% would be abused, adding that the situation was high and unacceptable.
Ajomale said that the dignity of the elderly was a fundamental human right essential for their well-being and the quality of life in old age and must never be compromised under any circumstances.
Speaking with journalists at the event, a Consultant Psychiatrist with the Psychogeriatric Department of the hospital, Dr Abayomi Olajide, said the programme is celebrated annually to demand proper care and well-being of the elderly in society
(NAN)
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