‘Lack of humanity’

October 20, 2008  •  Jaen  •  1 Comments

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• UNFAIR: Dolores, Concha, Rosario (left to right) and Miguel (behind)

Junta refuses to help ill, disabled elderly sisters

THREE elderly sisters with a combined age of 283 have been denied home help by the regional government.

Dolores, 101, and her younger sisters Concha, 92, and 90-year-old Rosario were told the Junta de Andalucía would reconsider their application for aid to pay for carers in 2014.

Now the trio, who live together in the village of Castellar in Jaén, will have to pay for their own care, food and medication on the money they receive from their State pensions.

“We do not know if this is some kind of sick joke or a genuine error. But whatever it is, my mother and aunts are being treated barbarically,” said Miguel Cano Benavides, the 70-year-old son of Rosario.

He added that Dolores is almost blind with cataracts, deaf and suffers from asthma and high blood pressure while nonogenarian Concha has wasting disease muscular hyperplasia.

His mother was in charge of her two older sisters, but she is bed-ridden after a fall earlier this year left her with a broken hip.

Currently, the three sisters survive on their modest pensions and the income they receive from their olives. According to Rosario’s son, this amounts to 100 euros a day.

“This is not sufficient for three elderly ladies who require medical attention,” said Miguel.

The political opposition in the province has heavily criticised the socialist-run Junta. “Some people need to take a reality check here,” said the leader of the Partido Popular in Jaen, José Enrique Fernández de Moya.

“We are talking about an elderly lady of 101 years of age who lives with her two sisters of 90 and 92, both of whom are ill and disabled. These people are in clear need of help. There is a lack of humanity on the part of the Junta de Andalucía and every day the socialists demonstrate they are less sensitive to the problems of the people,” he added.

A Junta representative in Jaén, however, defended its decision. “Although this case is atypical, our decision was not based on the age of the applicatants. We took into account their financial situation and decided none of the sisters would be eligible for help for a further six years,” said Carmen Álvarez.

A total of 73,000 people in Andalucía receive aid from the Junta to pay for carers.

Meanwhile, Spain will have the oldest population in the world by 2040.

According to a study conducted by research group Hay, more than 50 per cent of the nation’s inhabitants will then be older than 55 years old.

The report, called Possible Futures 2020, claims that for every person who will enter the labour market within 32 years, three will retire.

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