March 30, 2014
Akahata editorial (excerpt)
Around 524,000 elderly people were on waiting lists for admission to special nursing care homes in 2013, according to a recent survey by the Welfare Ministry. This is a surprisingly high figure, considering the fact that the total number of inhabitants in special nursing care homes throughout the country is 510,000. Despite public demand for more nursing care facilities, the government ignores the demands. The government’s attitude should be called into question.
The number of the elderly, whose application to nursing homes is denied, keeps ballooning. It was around 420,000 in 2009. After that, the total capacity of the care facilities was expanded only by 75,000 people, and the waiting list of applicants grew by 100,000 in four years. In such an abnormal situation, the elderly and their families are crying out in anguish.
However, the government, which has been eager to cut public spending on nursing care for the aged, in effect went counter to the increase in the care facilities by cutting the subsidy for building them.
During the period between 2000 and 2013, while the number of private nursing care homes rose ninefold, special nursing care homes increased by 1.7. Only rich people can afford to live in those private nursing homes operated by for-profit companies.
The country, which neglects to look after a large number of the elderly who have nowhere to live in the last days of their lives, has no future. It is unacceptable for the government to shift its responsibility of providing nursing care onto individual’s self-responsibility. In order to solve the issue of the aged waiting to enter a nursing care home, the national government should take every possible measure immediately and change its political stance so that the elderly can live without anxieties.
Around 524,000 elderly people were on waiting lists for admission to special nursing care homes in 2013, according to a recent survey by the Welfare Ministry. This is a surprisingly high figure, considering the fact that the total number of inhabitants in special nursing care homes throughout the country is 510,000. Despite public demand for more nursing care facilities, the government ignores the demands. The government’s attitude should be called into question.
The number of the elderly, whose application to nursing homes is denied, keeps ballooning. It was around 420,000 in 2009. After that, the total capacity of the care facilities was expanded only by 75,000 people, and the waiting list of applicants grew by 100,000 in four years. In such an abnormal situation, the elderly and their families are crying out in anguish.
However, the government, which has been eager to cut public spending on nursing care for the aged, in effect went counter to the increase in the care facilities by cutting the subsidy for building them.
During the period between 2000 and 2013, while the number of private nursing care homes rose ninefold, special nursing care homes increased by 1.7. Only rich people can afford to live in those private nursing homes operated by for-profit companies.
The country, which neglects to look after a large number of the elderly who have nowhere to live in the last days of their lives, has no future. It is unacceptable for the government to shift its responsibility of providing nursing care onto individual’s self-responsibility. In order to solve the issue of the aged waiting to enter a nursing care home, the national government should take every possible measure immediately and change its political stance so that the elderly can live without anxieties.
