KUALA LUMPUR: The public are advised to educate themselves on healthy ageing, personal care, having enough savings and health insurance policy as preparations for old age.
Malaysian Healthy Ageing Society (MHAS) advisor Prof Nathan Vytialingam said the public should realize at young age on how to manage themselves before they become a burden to others in their golden age.
“The biggest challenge for us (at MHAS) is to educate people on healthy ageing, but we will not stop our efforts to encourage them to educate themselves and seek some advice from experts, especially regarding financial and healthcare.
“We believe by doing this, they will be prepared to age healthily and enable the elderly to age better,” he told Bernama after his talk on Intimacy in the Elderly at the Empowering the Elderly Programme here Saturday.
Nathan said the media and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) also had important roles to play in educating the public on healthy ageing.
“I think if we get together and cooperate with each other, we could organise a lot of awareness programmes. We could not expect government to do it alone because it is also responsible,” he said.
Furthermore, Nathan said more well-trained people were needed to provide healthcare support for the elderly, especially those with psychological problems.
“Some adult children might have difficulties coping with their retired parents and need professional help. This situation occurs because the parents tend to believe that they have lost their friends and feel so lonely to the extent of being depressed,” he said.
As such, he suggested that more day-care centres for the elderly be set up to enable them to socialise with their peers.
“The children can drop their parents at this centres during their office hour. We will assist the elderly by providing several activities to keep them occupied,” he said.