KP govt asked to implement Senior Citizens Act

PESHAWAR: Senior citizens on Monday asked the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to implement the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Senior Citizens Act 2014 in letter and spirit as the International Day of Older Persons is being observed today.

The older people from Peshawar renewed the demand from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to implement the KP Senior Citizens Act and commitments made with them by the previous and current Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf KP government. "We (senior citizens) are still waiting for the implementation of the Senior Citizens Act even after five years of the enactment of the law," said Banat Khan, an old citizen from Peshawar. He added the senior citizens were very happy when they learnt that the government would provide financial assistance to the deserving ones, but the government failed to implement the law and honour the commitments.

As per the Senior Citizens Act, he explained, the government had promised to set up separate counters and medical wards at hospitals and give concession in treatment and medicine charges, but to no avail. Farhad Khan, another senior citizen from Peshawar, said that they did not have access to free and quality health care services. However, he claimed, the government had promised that all older people of the province will get Sehat Insaf Card, but they were still deprived of the cards to receive free treatment.

He said a person suffered from multiple health issues in the old age that needed proper treatment. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government passed the Senior Citizens Act, 2014 to promote and protect the rights of older people.