Being old in Portugal
Thinking that we were once a people of discoverers, sailors, heroes and saints, in this country planted on the seashore one cannot be old; nor are the clothes of brands that shape the national idiosyncrasy capable of guaranteeing peace of mind, well-being and safety for this age group.
For example, one cannot be old with the disease, because the means of medical assistance and medication are scarce, and, relatively unconsciously, almost one and a half million citizens do not have a family doctor, including a few thousand elderly people in this statistic.
Then, medication assistance is equally scarce, because the essential medicines for the elderly are not accessible to everyone due to lack of money to purchase them; and this is nothing new, as we know that the poverty reforms that the vast majority receive barely cover the expenses of essential goods (food, housing, electricity, water, gas and clothing).
And to add to this sad reality, our old people, separated and needy by nature, still suffer the relentless shortcomings of the National Health Service (SNS) by keeping them on long waiting lists for surgeries, exams and consultations and withholding -the long hours in hospital emergencies; and, therefore, we do not see political will or governmental competence to prevent the escape of doctors from the SNS to private hospitals.
Yeah, and if we think that, during the Covid 19 pandemic, those who suffered and died the most, due to a lack of means to help with their comorbidities, were the oldest; and fundamentally due to the lack of general transport of human and material means, this age group lacked medical examinations, surgeries, consultations, hospitalizations and urgent treatments.
But the males that affect the elderly do not stop here, just think of the abandonment to which many are subject in nursing homes, shelters and hospitals by their own relatives; and even mistreatment and loneliness are recurrent phenomena in clandestine homes or those that are not properly supervised or in those that escape inspection that deviate from being rigorously taken by those who have the right.
In addition, other evils that affect a vehicle in this country are the lack of occupation, physical and mental activity and social, friendly and honest conviviality; and this situation drags many old people to the garden benches where they are lonely, isolated, silent and sad, counting the hours left to go home, where many times. nothing awaits them more than loneliness, nostalgia and abandonment; and, therefore, in general, being old in this country of ours, considered welcoming, peaceful and good, as our people say, is nothing more than an indirect mirage, that is to say a big brush.
Now, to add to this valley of tears, comes the crazy demand, coming out of the head of those who govern, that is being made to the elderly, whether by the public or private sector, to use the Internet to deal with matters, be it of whatever nature (financial, fiscal, logistical, of your private life…), thus preventing the use of the postal service; and because no one doubts, except for the so-called enlightened minds of government officials and public managers, that for the vast majority of our elderly people who know little or nothing about computers, social networks and cell phones, as they were born and raised in the time of pencils and pen and, at most the typewriter, is nothing more than an absurd and hard blow to its intentionally being old.
But, let’s see an example: some time ago, an octogenarian friend of mine asked, via post, Caixa Geral de Aposentação (CGA) for clarification on the information about his pension referring to the past October, which arrived misadjusted for less in relation to the annual Lifetime Accrual pension (AVP), resulting from his status as a former combatant in the colonial war; and, then, the response of this public entity was emphatically exemplary of what has been stated above: For clarification on the subject, you can consult the details on computer operations in setting the amount of your benefit, accessing it directly through Caixa’s on-line services for pensioners, simply by registering with CGA Directa (cgadirecta.cga.pt ) using the Register/Individual Person feature.
What about? This obviously leads us to conclude aloud that one cannot be old in this country; and exclaim, loud and clear, that treating its elderly this way, this country is nothing more than a circus where its main actors dress up as authentic troglodytes.
So until today at eight.