Hello! We will be discussing about the measures Singapore can learn from Korea to prepare for ageing population.
Based on the pre-trip assignment from Group 2, the measures taken by Korea to counter ageing population are similar to Singapore. For instance, the issue of retirement age and increasing birth age. In fact, the measures taken by Singapore are much better as compared to Korea. An example is to increase the retirement age whereby Singapore has plans to raise the retirement age to 67 years old and even no retirement at all as the current retirement age in Singapore is 62 and the retirement age in Korea is 58. However, there is one measure Singapore can learn from Korea which is in the field of medical technology.
In Singapore, majority of the citizens hire domestic helpers to help them in their daily life. However, not all these domestic helpers may be able to take good care of elderly as they are not well trained and well skilled. Moreover, taking care of elderly requires a lot of patience. For example, most of the elderly have sickness, thus domestic helpers have to monitor them 24 hours everyday, which is almost impossible. Maids might be inefficient in taking care of the elderly and would result in the injury of the elderly. As a result, it is really important to have medical technology in Singapore so as to provided better care for our elderly.
From our point of view, it is always better to have the children of the elderly to care of them. This is because the children will know them better and are able to give more love and care. However, due to the aging population and some other factors, such as Singaporeans adopting a one- child trend and for some who make a choice not to have any child, these groups of people will have to be dependent on medical technology as their children might not have the time to take care of their parents due to the fact that they are working overseas and are very busy to visit their parents.
With the help of medical technology , children can monitor the health of their parent. For example, when the family with single child or children who do not have time to take care of their parents, the medical technology can help ensure the safety of their parents. The working adults would not have to worry about their parents and this allows this group of working adults to concentate on their work. With the safety of the elderly being secured, there would be fewer cases of elderly who would have their lives endangered after being left alone for some time . Having medical technology would also ensure that the elderly will not have the idea of them being a burden to their child. As a result, the Singapore government will not have to spend so much money on the safety of the elder, instead the government can focus more on the economic growth and welfare of the nation.
Medical technology can also help improve the quality of life of the elderly. Due to the advanced medical technology, it can help speed up the action of the elderly and also aid them in their movement. This would allow them to be less dependent which can allow them to be more independent when there is no one around to take good care of them. With the help of various medical technologies, these would hence make the elderly lives more comfortable. Because of the development of medical technology by Singapore, countries that are also facing similar ageing population problems might be attracted to invest in these medical technology products and also purchase these products. These products developed for the ageing population in to the rest of the world can thus be a source of income for Singapore which will help to boost our economy.
In conclusion, even though Singapore has some measures which are better than Korea, Singapore has to improve their medical technology as it is an important factor for the safety of the elderly. Singapore should adopt the Korean medical technology to improve it so as to suit the needs of the elderly in Singapore.
Group 3: Steffi, Tracie, Amzar, Geraldine, Thaddeus, Brandon
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