UAE cabinet approves new policy for senior citizens

Abu Dhabi - The policy deals with financial stability, quality of future life, and healthcare.

Giving back to senior citizens and ensuring that they live a modest, comfortable life, the UAE Cabinet has approved the National Policy for Senior Emiratis, a policy that falls in line with the UAE Vision 2021 and the UAE Centennial Strategy 2071.
"We adopted the National Policy for Senior Emiratis to improve the quality of their lives and ensure their active and ongoing participation within the UAE community," said His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. It is a policy that has been created with the directions of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, reflecting the government's national agenda that caters to all segments of society.
"We cannot realise family and society coherence unless we guarantee a modest life to them," Sheikh Mohammed said.
Based on an integrated care system, the National Policy for Senior Emiratis ensures that seniors remain active and are provided access to government services. It includes seven main components: healthcare, community involvement and active life, effective civic participation, infrastructure and transportation, financial stability, safety and security, and quality of future life.
The healthcare component focuses on the precautionary measures that ensure the safety and rights of senior citizens. It includes a number of initiatives, such as initiating a rehab and training programme for healthcare providers and coordinating with the local bodies and private sector to provide basic health cover to senior citizens across the country.
The community involvement and active life segment aims at forming innovative channels to convey knowledge and share the experience across the generations. This includes initiatives like organising training courses to boost the skills and develop the abilities in using the latest technologies through the social development and cultural centres in the country.
The effective civic participation aims to bolster an active life-supporting environment for the seniors. It includes initiatives such as launching programmes to attract retired Emiratis with experience in all fields so as to benefit from their expertise either by business owners or in education.
For the infrastructure and transportation, this component aims to encourage the joint work to provide competitive services in housing and infrastructure in various fields.
The financial stability aims to provide the necessary information, which would help ensure that the senior Emirati citizens are financially stable. This component includes initiatives to invite local institutions to support leading projects and offer facilities to the senior Emirati citizens to help them set up leading private projects.
The safety and security component aims to safeguard the senior citizens by launching a training programme that could find out any violence or abuse on the senior people and protect them from being exposed to misuse or mistreatment. A hotline is established to guarantee that their voice will reach the concerned authorities in this regard.
The quality of future life aims to provide the senior citizens with means of comfort, convenience, and modest life through a number of initiatives such as, offering senior Emirati citizens special discounts on the fare when using public transport

From 'old people' to 'senior citizens' ?
Senior Emirati citizens have played a key role in building the UAE from the ground up, and up until this day, they remain as the country's "greater givers" with the "widest experience", the UAE Cabinet chair, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said in approving the National Policy for Senior Emiratis.
They are the nation's pride and model, Sheikh Mohammed said, urging the young to learn from the lives of senior citizens - a term that he said must now replace 'old people'.
"We have instructed to change the term 'old people' to 'senior citizens'," he said. "Our seniors are the youth, whose giving never runs out. I urge the sons of the UAE to benefit from the experience of the senior citizens and take the culture of giving, dedication, and sincerity as an approach."
The new policy is one that pays homage to the elderly's contribution to nation-building.
"We cannot forget what you gave and are still giving to the country. We would like to say to you that you are our pride and model," Sheikh Mohammed said, adding that "your comfort, wellbeing, stability, quality of your life are a national and humanitarian duty, and the government of the UAE always gives the good turn back to whoever contributed to the renaissance of the country."