The Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation will ensure that there are no more senior citizens’ homes built in the country.

This is to encourage families to play a responsible role in looking after their elderly.

The Minister, Rosy Akbar, made this strong stand during the National Council for Older Persons consultation in Suva yesterday.

“We want our elderly to be with their families,” Ms Akbar said.

“I have a view that if we start building more senior citizens homes in Fiji, we are trying to provide avenues which will allow more families to decide that their elders are burdens on them and they put them in the homes where Government will look after them.”

Ms Akbar said there were enough senior citizens homes in the country to cater for the elderly who did not have families.

To create this culture of responsibility, the ministry is on a mission whereby it will individually contact the family members of the elderly in the homes.

It will also campaign through mass media by appealing to members of the public with a message: Our elderly deserve to live and be looked after at home with their families.

“This is going to be the mission of my ministry,” she said.

“We have received positive responses from their families.”

Minister Akbar said they were also going to see how they could co-ordinate with the families here and abroad.

Edited by Maikeli Seru

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