Not all the older persons are recipients of social welfare, but in the case of those who benefit from such assistance, maximum measures are taken during the pandemic to satisfy their needs. At the level of each local public administration, the persons who are not covered by the social assistance service or who didn’t benefit from social services can ask the community social assistant or the social worker to deliver bare essentials at home, Galinei Bujor, senior consultant at the Ministry of Health’s Division of Social Assistance Policies for Families with Low Incomes, Ellery People and Veterans, stated in a public debate organized by HelpAge International Moldova.
According to her, measures have been taken in the period to ensure the social protection of the elderly persons by adjusting the activity and providing all the types of social services. “Civil society combined forces and a multitude of volunteering activities were developed. Those persons who asked for informational, psychological support in the form of communication or food products were helped. Moreover, measures were taken to strengthen the social protection system,” said Galina Bujor.
She noted that the protection of the elderly should be the responsibility of all the family members and these should obey the protective measures when the family includes children and adults who work and interact with other persons in the community. “I don’t think the isolation measure imposed on the elderly is discriminatory. This measure actually represents care and protection. I call on all the persons, regardless of age, to obey the protection measures, to take care of the parents and grandparents, relatives who are older, to ask for support from specialists of the social assistance system when they consider necessary, including in purchasing food products and, basic necessities, for informational support,” stated Galinei Bujor.
The public debate was held in the framework of the project “Integration of active aging into public policies in the Republic of Moldova” that is implemented by HelpAge International and the Platform for Active Aging, with support from East Europe Foundation, in partnership with the Partnership for Development Center, with the resources provided by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and Sweden.
