[Colombo, 8fed, Sefydliad Thomson Reuters]- Kiri Banda used to work as a cook in Sri Lanka’s largest city, Colombo. After retirement, he hoped to spend a peaceful old age with his son. But last year, when Banda’s medical bills began to strain his family’s finances, he decided to move out.
“I didn’t want to be a burden,” said Banda. They spend their days begging and looking for food, and sleep on park benches at night.
Such scenes have become more common since last year, Sri Lanka entered its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948. Food prices are soaring, medicines and fuel are in short supply, and there are angry protests explodes
Banda, 84, said as he sat by the roadside waiting for a passer-by to give him some change, saying, “It is difficult for the younger generation to survive in Sri Lanka, let alone the elderly like us.” What will happen?” he said.
The government is rushing to secure $2.9 billion in financial aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but President Wickremesinghe has warned that any delay in the aid will put Sri Lanka on the brink of another sharp downturn.
It is the elderly who feel real pain due to the economic crisis. Traditionally, elderly care in Sri Lanka is largely dependent on family members.
Many of those who have retired in old age do not receive pensions, and some families have already lost the ability to support the lives of the elderly.
The elderly also face shortages of medicines and shrinking government welfare budgets. For example, programs such as the distribution of free contact lenses and financial support for the self-employed have been suspended, both designed specifically for the elderly.
KG Lanellore, director general of the National Secretariat for the Elderly, the government agency in charge of the welfare system for the elderly, said more than 650,000 people receive temporary allowances and other support every month.
“Centralizing the welfare and safety of the elderly in Sri Lanka in one agency has become a major challenge given the limited resources in the current economic crisis,” he said.
The island nation of Sri Lanka has the fastest aging population in South Asia.
According to the World Bank, around 16% of the country’s approximately 22 million people are already over 60 years old. By 2041, the proportion will rise to one in four.
“The increase in the elderly population has reached a level that can be called a social problem,” said Lannerol.
The country does not have a pension system that includes all citizens.
Workers in the informal sector, in particular, are often left out of coverage and eligibility for multiple schemes, leaving many vulnerable older people without income.
One person who is not covered by the pension scheme is SD Priyadasa, 82, who used to work as an experimenter.
My savings ran out a long time ago. Most of it was used to treat an ulcer on one leg caused by diabetes.
Priyadasa walks nine kilometers every month to visit an old friend in Mount Lavinia, a suburb of Colombo, and receives 5,000 rupees ($18) for his disabled widowed sister and her young children.
“Sometimes I only eat once a day,” said Priyadasa.
“What my sister and I are most concerned about is the health and education of her children. They are still very young. I’m doing my best.”
The sisters, Millerin Peiris and Irene, are both in their early 70s. She receives a monthly payment of 7,000 rupees from her financially more secure siblings.
But due to rising inflation, this amount is now barely enough to pay for a one bedroom flat.
They also walk two kilometers every day to attend a day care center for the elderly run by the international charity Help Age. If you go here, every meal is served for free.
“I used to work in a clothing factory. I’ve been an independent woman all my life. I don’t want to beg, but I’m afraid all this support will eventually stop,” said Irene Peiris.
Charities say the number of requests for help is alarming.
Samantha Liyanawaduge, the executive director of the HelpAge chapter in Sri Lanka, said that there has been a noticeable increase in the demand by the elderly for food and other assistance since the country’s economic situation deteriorated rapidly.
HelpAge has provided mobile medical equipment and home care services, but says the state needs to do more.
“We are asked to play the role that the government should play, although we are doing our best,” said Liyanawaduge.
The Ministry of Social Inclusion, which houses the National Office for Older People, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
One person who has been forced to make an inevitable choice during the current crisis is single mother Nishanti Fernando.
Fernando runs a small grocery store in the town of Talpitiya, south of Colombo city. With that income, she supports her 12-year-old son with autism and his 67-year-old father. Her husband has left home and provides no financial support.
Fernando realized last year that he could no longer support them on his meager income. In particular, fathers’ medical costs continue to rise.
“I was afraid. He said he considered suicide because of the stress.
“I’m the only son, so I had no choice but to ask my father to go to an elderly facility.”
Fernando pays a small fee to cover the costs of the charity-run facility and visits his father whenever possible.
“If I had a better paying job, I wouldn’t have sent him to a facility where he was cared for by strangers,” Fernando said.
“But now I know nursing homes aren’t so bad. They’ll take care of me and I can’t do anything.”
(Reporter Piyumi Fonseka, translation by Eaklelen)
