Ghana's only aged home closed down

The ageing population in the country is likely to be bored stiff as the only and first-ever ageing support centre in the country - HelpAge Ghana- has been temporarily closed down due to over population.

The non-governmental, non-religious and non-profit making organization which has been operational since 1988, served as a recreational health care centre for retirees and other seniors who did not have anything or anyone to occupy their time with.

It also provided health care, feeding and did advocacy on behalf of the aged to ensure that they were better represented in society. Staff of the centre have currently embarked on an old people monitoring exercise in the Volta, Ashanti and parts of the Greater Accra regions.

The exercise aimed at scrutinizing the conditions under which old people, especially the incapacitated ones are catered for in such parts of the country.

In an interview with The Globe newspaper, Vice President of HelpAge Ghana, Edward Ameyibor, said the activities of the organization would have been more effective if they had more philanthropic support.

For instance with their day care centres that have been closed down, Mr. Ameyibor said “we used to provide three square meals each day at the centres, but it got to a time they started complaining about the quality of food. Then we started preparing different kinds of meals but at the cost of 50 pesewas each day but that also didn’t work out. We started running out of so we closed down the centre, not just because of the food but also because our facility didn’t have the capacity to handle the rising numbers of members”.

He said they couldn’t provide good health care for the aged inmates as they should. “The very essence of the centre was not being realized anymore so we decided to shut it down for a while, at least until the facility is improved and better managed. ”

Mr. Ameyibor further called on organizations to help support the early re-opening of the centre. He also complained bitterly about the “constant tagging of old-age as a disease. ”

“There are certain ailments associated with ageing, but old age in itself is not a disease! ” Mr. Ameyibor said, adding that “one of the things old people need most in this country, are professional Geriatric Health practitioners”.

The Centre is thankful to government for passing The National Policy on Ageing, a policy they had pushed for over the past 10 years. They however are encouraging government to move past the implementation plan and speed up the implementation process.