003: Social Isolation Amongst Elderly in Pakistan

From Hamariweb.com

Pakistan: A country where 240 million people live, won't believe it when you tell its people that the number of elderly residing in it will increase to 45 million, by 2050.

As of 2021, approximately 6.8% of Pakistan's population was aged 60 and above, amounting to over 15 million elderly individuals.

Common Beliefs

There is a belief that there's a higher number of youth in this country and ‘certainly there can't be a lot of 'old people', this is true, but, if we look at the picture from a bird's eye view, we will also see a large amount of elderly people in our country who, sadly, have been neglected by their own...

I'm not talking about those who, because of their financial difficulties, have to ask for monetary support on the footpath. I'm talking about those whose own blood 'can't afford them as they're medical needs are too expensive' or they're 'burdensome' or that ‘my mother keeps on forgetting whatever I tell her and it’s annoying’.

A country where arthritis, diabetes and dementia is very prevalent amongst the elderly, their children tend to leave them under someone else's care when they feel that they're old parents are 'too much'.

So what do they do?

Best Choice?

Offspring who can't bother with their elderly parents believe that the best choice they have, is to leave them at any nearby old age home.

Social isolation and loneliness are significant issues for elderly Pakistanis, particularly those living in urban areas where traditional family structures are breaking down. Many elderly individuals live alone or are not adequately cared for by their families.

Mr Jamil 

Leaving parents at old age homes for their own convenience children often forget the turmoil on their parents' mental health, for instance in 2023, 83 year old retired government officer Mr Jamil was left at an old age home as his two sons moved abroad for work whilst promising to call him frequently, but promises are meant to be broken. 

The staff at the facility saw how Jamil would wait by the phone everyday and would argue that his sons will take him back and also noted his declining emotional health due to prolonged separation from family.

Many elderly parents are left behind by their children causing them to wait for years and years, by the phone, next to a window that overlooks the facility gate or simply at a communal dinner table hoping that their son would come and share a meal with them.

Aisha Bibi

Another incident, in Karachi when Aisha Bibi's sons left her under the care of old age homes, she talks about how after her husband passed away her sons claimed that she had mental issues and believed it was best to leave her in the old age home. Her Daughter frequently visits her and asks her mother to accompany her at home. When Aisha once asked her sons to take her home so that she lives her remaining life with them, they never came back to visit her.

The abandonment and ill-treatment of elderly parents in Pakistan is based on many factors; decline of the joint-family system, increasing immigration trends, expensive medical bills and preference of the children to live with their spouses in a separate home.

It's also about them

These incidents show how separation from their family takes a huge turn on the elderly parents because it may seem as if they are having mental issues and their children disregard the fact that they may be just wanting to share a meal with them, have a meaningful conversation and just sit together under the sun in a breezy morning in October and enjoy a cup of warm tea.

But most of the time parents instead are made to take refuge in old age homes.

There is a pressing need for increased societal awareness about the emotional and psychological needs of the elderly. It also underscores the importance of strengthening family bonds and responsibilities towards aging parents.

Community support systems and government policies must be enhanced to ensure that elderly individuals like Mr. Jamil does not face isolation or abandonment.

Legal Protection

There have been laws passed in the last decade to ensure welfare of elderly in Pakistan.

1. Sindh Senior Citizens Welfare Act of 2014 

• Senior Citizen’s Welfare Fund, where funds would be allocated for the elderly to provide them support.

• Issuance of Senior Citizen’s Cards for discounts on healthcare.

• Free healthcare facilities in government hospitals.

Yes, these laws have been made but they haven’t been fully implemented throughout the country in other provinces too. These laws are a decade old but we don’t see them being any advantage for the elderly in Pakistan. Hence, the government should ensure how these laws were made to and should provide comfort to the senior citizens of Pakistan.