I am half a century old
already and will soon become a “dual citizen” in a few years. That is, a
Filipino citizen and senior citizen J.
This plus the politics of government interventionism in the name of “helping”
the senior citizens slowly get my interest on the literature of ageing.
Last October 29, 2013, I
attended a forum by the Retirement and Healthcare Coalition (RHC) on the Ageing
Market at Diamond Hotel, Manila.
The speakers and their topics
were the following:
“Overview of the
Philippine Ageing Market”
Dr. Miguel Ramos,
Director, National Center for Geriatric Health (NCGH)
“The Geriatric Market from
a Hospital's Point of View”
Dr. Liza Manalo, Head,
Palliative Care Unit of The Medical City's Cancer Center
“The Geriatric Market from
a Hospital's Point of View”
Dr. Marc Evans Abat, Head,
Center for Healthy Aging of The Medical City's
Center for Wellness and
Aesthetics
“Developing Aged Care
Facilities in the Philippines”
Dr. Mary Jean Guno,
Managing Director, Home Health Care
“The Philippine
TeleGeriatric Project”
Davidson B. Teh, Program
Coordinator
AIM Dr. Stephen Zuellig
Center for Asian Business Transformation,
Asian Institute of
Management
“PHI - 'Human Touch'
Public Private Partnership Project”
Marc Daubenbuechel,
Executive Director of RHC
Four of the six speakers,
from left: Dr. Marc Abat, Davidson Teh, Dr. Mary Guno, and Marc D.
The Philippines has about 7
million elders aged 60 years old and above in 2011, and this sector is
projected to increase up to nearly 14
million (NCGH estimate) or nearly 20 million (RHC estimate) in 2040, a big
number. The more substantial presentation came from Dr. Ramos of the NCGH.
Among the information he shared were the following.
From 7 million in 2011 to 8 million by 2016-17 and further up to nearly 14 million by 2040.
Major diseases that
affected the elderly in the Philippines as of 2007 were arthritis, hypertension
and cataracts.
His presentation was
substantial, lots of useful macro data of the senior citizens sector.
Marc D. spelled
out the Philippine Health Initiative (PHI) and the geriatric needs. According
to him, these are the strengths and weaknesses of the Philippine geriatric
market.
The Germans and other
Europeans are interested in tapping some Filipino healthcare talents to help
take care of their ageing population. But they require highly-trained Filipino
health professionals.
The Philippines has a
unique role in the global geriatric market because it has a big and generally
young population with an average age of only about mid-20s. Thus it can help supply
the necessary healthcare professionals to countries with high elderly
population like those in Europe.
The PH government since
more than a decade ago has embarked on price intervention by legislating
mandatory price discounts to the elderly by various private enterprises. It is 20
percent forced discount for the senor citizens in all drugstores, hospitals, restaurants,
fare in airlines, bus lines and shipping line, etc. Another 12 percent VAT that
private enterprises absorbed from suppliers but cannot be passed to senior
citizens makes the forced discount at 32 percent or nearly one-third the price
of various goods and services.
Price intervention is
price dictatorship. It is an ugly characteristic by many governments. I believe
that the law on benefits for senior citizens should be drastically amended, if
not abolished. Let the private enterprises offer discounts or other privileges
to the elderly on their own as a result of competition among themselves. Or if
such forced discounts must continue, then it should apply only to the poor, not
to all senior citizens including the richer ones.
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See also:
Healthy Ageing 2: World Congress on Healthy Ageing, March 08, 2012EMHN 10: Forum on Asia's Ageing Societies, Bangkok, October 08, 2013
Healthy Aging 3: GCOA-EMHN Policy Dialogue in Bangkok, October 24, 2013
Healthy Ageing 4: GCOA-EMHN Meeting in Bangkok Last October, November 15, 2013
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