DPM Vu Duc Dam gave a speech at the event. Photo: VGP

The aspiration given by Dam, Chairman of the National Committee for the Vietnamese Elderly, was shared at the event in response to the action month for the Vietnamese elderly in 2020 regarding the topic of "The elderly care and promotion of their roles” on the morning of October 16.

Dam emphasized that the Government and the PM had decided to choose the annually October to be the action month for the elderly, a reminder for the whole society to pay attention to care and, more importantly, promote their roles.

According to Dam, in order for the elderly to live a long, healthy, happy and productive life, first of all, it is necessary to pay more attention to the work of health care. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Health (MoH) by the end of 2019, 54% of the elderly suffer from high blood pressure, 42% with osteoarthritis, 20% with lung diseases, 18% with digestive diseases, etc. In addition to geriatric hospitals, medical care facilities for the elderly and the health sector which are actively implementing various solutions such as ‘telemedicine’, connecting all medical stations, modifying and supplementing health insurance policy, etc., the goal is that the elderly are able to receive health care right at the residence with the guidance of the higher level doctors; creating electronic health records for all people, moving towards the goal of each elderly to have personal doctors and medical facilities.

Along with that, the elderly also need mental care, especially their roles to be promoted in terms of cultural, social and economic activities, etc. in the locality, thereby organizing propaganda among the following generations regarding good values through stories and contemplation in life.

DPM Vu Duc Dam and elderly delegates attended the event.

Mrs. Pham Thi Hai Chuyen, Chairwoman of the Vietnam Association of the Elderly said: Due to the characteristics of the elderly and the prolonged consequences of war, as well as the socio-economic conditions of each region are different, a part of the elderly’s lives is still facing difficulty.

Promoting the tradition of "When you eat a fruit, think of the man who planted the tree" and "Respect the elderly for longevity" and although each locality has different forms of movement, the aim is to support the elderly in difficult circumstances. From 2015 to 2019, nearly 842 billion VND had been mobilized, 170 billion VND per year on average, supporting more than 2.6 million elderly people with difficult circumstances.

Up to now, Vietnam has 106 central and provincial hospitals with the existence of the geriatrics department, nearly 1,000 medical examination departments with separate examination rooms or separate examination tables for the elderly. At the same time, more than 3 million elderly people got the health records for monitoring, nearly 4 million elderly had periodic health checks, 96% of the elderly owned health insurance cards, most hospitals gave priority to medical examination and treatment for the elderly aged 80 and over, etc.

In addition, there are currently 97,131 elderly people directly participating in the party committees in the village, hamlet, and residential groups; 84,910 reputable elderly people, entrusted by the Party and people regarding the task of directly participating in the People's Council, taking the position of heads, deputy heads of villages, hamlets, sub-zones, residential groups; 498,219 elderly people are directly participating in the work of the Fronts and mass organizations at grassroots level; Over 1.2 million elderly people have joined groups of crime prevention and protection and security protection in the locality.

In 2019, the proportion of the elderly accounted for 11.86% of the population and shall have a rise at nearly 17% by 2030. Our country is one of the countries with the fastest aging rates in the world. Therefore, building a society in which the elderly are given care on their material and spiritual life as well as intellectual and experience aspects for socio-economic development is a vital task that needs drastic participation of both the political system and the whole society./.