Every second day, on average, an elderly person in Hong Kong takes his or her own life. They do it for their children. They don't want to be a burden. The result is the shame of Hong Kong; we've got the second highest rate in the world of suicide for elderly people. Astonishingly, only Singapore exceeds us.
This sorry scenario is unnecessary, contends Dr Alex Kwan, Professor of Applied Social Studies at the City University and one of the leading experts on the elderly in Chinese societies. It could be avoided by redistributing social welfare spending more sympathetically, he says.
The problem, says Dr Kwan, is that old age policy is made without regard to what old people want.
For those in the autumn of their lives, there are three overwhelming concerns: health; finances; and shelter. Our thrust in social care has, in recent years: stopped old people getting free medical advice from public hospitals; pays them a scant $625 a month basic old age allowance; and does not provide nearly enough space, or the right kind of public housing. So those three basic worries are either neglected or completely ignored.
As a direct result, says Dr Kwan, old people - sick, poor and living in cramped conditions with their children - take the ultimate exit. Last year, according to government statistics, 222 people aged over 60 killed themselves.
Surely our society is sufficiently wealthy and mature to adequately care for those who helped build the modern Hong Kong.
