SINGAPORE: More and more Singapore elderly are wondering what their future will bring. With retirement funds on the decrease and health services limited, they hope new efforts by the government will boost their situation and give them solace late in life. “We lived a good life, but we do have more years to go we hope,” 81-year-old Lee told Bikyamasr.com as he and his wife enjoyed their morning tea on Saturday in the city-state. “It's been our routine for the past 50 years to have tea at dawn, and it great. But we are worried about the future of care in this country,” he admitted. The government wants to boost the healthcare sector and said that transformation is key for Singapore and other countries in the region as Southeast Asia continues to see the aging of their populations. Singapore Minister of State for Health Amy Khor said countries had to grapple with healthcare challenges, which were becoming vastly more complex than ever. “With a rapidly ageing population and rise in chronic diseases, we have to constantly reshape our healthcare system to meet these challenges. “Elderly patients require extra rehabilitation after being discharged from the hospital and this means ensuring the continuity of care between acute hospitals and community care,” she said in her address at the 3rd National Occupational Therapist's Conference on Saturday. For couples like Lee and his wife, healthcare services are vital to their future. As they continue to live off their retirement funds, which they admitted did not go as far as in years past, they believe the government must build a new sense of assisting the country's elderly. “We are all Singaporeans no matter how old we are, so hopefully this will mean a change in our the old people like us are treated,” he added.
