Requests to put older persons in elderly homes become more often when the weather grows cold. The main reason behind is the youths’ migration. Elderly parents are left alone, without anyone to care for them. Elderly home managers claim that current requests already surpass the number of available beds in institutions.
Gheorghe Gherstega, head of the National Asylum for handicapped people and pensioners from Chisinau, told Info-Prim Neo that most of the older persons registered there are women. “Children used to look after their parents, but now the country is left with only minors and elderly people. There is no one to care for them. Feeble as they are, they end up in shelters”, says Gheorghe Gherstega.
The National Home for Handicapped and Pensioners has a total capacity of 200 beds, all of which are taken. Part of the institution is undergoing repairs, which should end within two weeks. “The cold season is coming, and we must provide more beds”, mentioned Gheorghe Gherstega. The institution has 140 rooms, and each floor has a lounge with a sofas and a TV set. The first floor has a canteen, festivity hall, and library.
Vera Ilie, employee of the Calarasi Elderly Home, says the requests increase in numbers as early as September, since the weather becomes colder. “Most often the elderly are brought in by their children. They pay 2,417 lei per month for a bed here”, communicated Vera Ilie. The Calarasi institution’s capacity is of 25 beds, whereas currently there are 28 persons, in the care of 16 employees. The eldest person in the home is 89 years old. Part of the elderly are active, go to town , go to the market for groceries. But there are also bedridden elderly, or some who never leave the institution’s yard, because they don’t where to go.
According to a report from the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family, there are 33 elderly homes in Moldova, almost one for each district. The beneficiaries’ four-times-a-day meal costs 31.76 lei/day.
At the beginning of 2012, Moldova had 527,000 citizens aged 60 and above. More than half (60.4%) are women. About 2/3 (60.9%) live in rural areas.
