OLD peoples’ homes are in need of serious upgrades and renovations in order to meet EU standards and Cypriot law, according to a group of deputies who recently visited four of the 147 institutions scattered across the island.
The House Human Rights Committee met on Tuesday to discuss the condition of old peoples’ homes and to listen to the complaints of foundations who claim they are not receiving enough money to care for the elderly.
While the deputies argue that old people are made to suffer in unfit homes, the old peoples’ home association maintain they can do nothing more to improve the premises without receiving more financial aid from the government.
Deputies Kyriacos Tirimos and Eleni Mavrou of AKEL and Nicos Tornaritis of DISY said they were appalled at the conditions they found at some of the homes.
They reported a lack of staff, no air conditioning to keep them cool in the summer heat as well as other problems and requested from the welfare services and the old peoples’ associations to find the funding to improve the institutions.
However, the president of the old peoples’ homes association, Costas Ioannides, said they had appealed many times to the welfare services for financial aid to fix up old peoples’ homes and improve standards. “Yet nothing has been done and now there are complaints,” stressed Ioannides.
He also said that reports in certain newspapers had been sensationalised and blown out of proportion. “There are some problems with a few old peoples’ homes, but I stress that there are only a few,” said Ioannides. “Some homes have already been made to close down due to their state.”
“There are 147 institutions and the deputies visited only four. They cannot possibly make an accurate conclusion and state that all homes need renovation.”
The old peoples’ home association are trying to keep the institutions in line with the law and EU standards, but find it increasingly difficult with money presenting the largest obstacle.
The problem at some of the institutions is that they were not custom built, but converted, with problems regarding electricity, air conditioning and the number of toilets available.
Ioannides blames the authorities for the problem, saying they had chosen to ignore the situation and were now seeing matters spiralling out of control.
“I regret that the deputies have gone to these lengths to make a point. What will their contribution be to improving old peoples’ homes? They are quick to complain and point out mistakes, but they have no intention of pitching in to remedy the problem,” said Ioannides.
According to Ioannides, the main problem is not the state of the homes, but how much longer they will be able to house old people. It costs approximately £15 a day to keep a person in the old peoples’ home, but Ioannides said they only receive £10 from the welfare department, which is responsible for keeping most of the elderly in homes.
“Is this logical? We give all we can, and to support the elderly we have had to skimp on other luxuries as we are not given enough to keep them,” said Ioannides. “The welfare department must give more to improve the lives of the elderly.”
Representative from the welfare department Evanthia Papasavva said at the meeting that it remained unsure how much more money would be allocated to the improvement of old peoples’ homes.
This is because the institutes’ association has asked the welfare department to significantly increase its existing financial contribution to the old peoples’ homes.
