Elderly in good hands

Muscat: The Sultanate of Oman pays great attention to the elderly and strives to provide them with everything they need in various fields, offering social support to improve their quality of life and ways to integrate them into society.

Social care is considered an essential element of social protection that contributes to ensuring the security and cohesion of society. Social care programmes provide services to meet the needs of needy groups, including the elderly. The Ministry of Social Development relies on studying the assessment of their needs and desires to provide services for the elderly based on a sustainable system focused on empowerment, integration, capacity development, human rights, social capital and effective partnerships.

“The Ministry of Social Development seeks to support the quality of life of the elderly by providing them with several services such as support devices, various medical aids, psychological and social guidance and counseling, social and recreational activities, as well as preparing homes, working to integrate them and enhancing their role and position in society, in addition to strengthening the principle of partnership and integrated work between all sectors,” said Ahood al Saadi, Head of Programmes and Standards Department, Department of Elderly Affairs in the Ministry of Social Development.

The alternative family is also a service that the elderly receive to keep them in the community in which they live. It seeks to find alternative families for cases where their actual families cannot care for them or there are no relatives obligated to care for them. This ensures they are provided with the most important services to care for them. In addition, day care centres aim to maintain the elderly within their community environment, with civil society as a partner in supporting the social and development services and programmes provided to them.

The Social Care Home in Rustaq houses a number of elderly people who do not have anyone from their relatives to care for them, serve them and meet their life needs. The number of residents in this home until the end of June 2024 was about 45 residents, with around 8,768 elderly people benefiting from social services through the home care programme provided to them and their families until the end of June 2024.

The existence of the Social Protection Fund is the best evidence of the care and attention given to the elderly in the Sultanate of Oman. The fund seeks to improve the quality of life and provide protection and social care for various segments of society, including the elderly.

One of the most important advantages for the elderly in the Social Protection Fund is the elderly benefit, which provides monthly financial support to people aged 60 and above. It aims to ensure a minimum level of social cash protection for this category, enhancing stability for all citizens, especially during a person’s decreased ability to earn at an advanced age. The conditions and eligibility criteria are that the beneficiary must be Omani, reside in the Sultanate of Oman and be 60 years old.