Saudi Gazette report

DAMMAM — A total of 9,824 Saudi men and women aged above 51 years have been removed from the list of beneficiaries of social security assistance in 2016 after being employed, Makkah daily reported quoting figures released by the Ministry of Labor and Social Development.

The ministry, however, said there were 657 aged Saudis still being accommodated in old age homes.

The ministry has 12 such homes in various parts of the Kingdom.

Meanwhile, the Shoura Council has adopted a draft resolution to punish people who force the elderly to beg in the streets or abuse them physically, psychologically or verbally.

Under the resolution, those who are taking care of the old people, irrespective of whether they are children, grandchildren or siblings, will be fined a sum of SR10,000 and imprisoned from three months to three years if they neglected them or caught abusing them.

According to the draft resolution, an elderly person is defined as any man or woman who is 65 years old or above even if he or she is capable of taking care of themselves or do not need the help of others.

The Shoura decided that children from the eldest and going down to the youngest, grandchildren and siblings in that order are responsible for taking care of the old.

If any old person has no such close relatives to take care them, then the ministry will be responsible for them, the draft resolution stated.

The council also called for turning public parks into friendly places to the old and asked the private sector to build more charitable houses for the elderly.

Shoura member Noura Al-Masaad said the draft resolution to take care of the old was necessary to cope with the demographic changes and the expected rise in the number of the old, who will form about 10 percent of the Saudi population by the year 2025.

“We should take good care of the old irrespective of whether they live in their own houses or are accommodated in care homes,” she said.

According to the ministry’s official statistics, there were 1,309,713 Saudi men and women above 65 years of age in 2016.

The statistics showed that there were 471,268 Saudis who were between 60-64, 315,851 between 65 and 69, 211,897 who were between 70 and 74, 137,055 between 75 and 79, and 173,642 who were 80 or above.