Hong Kong health experts urge authorities to set up database for elderly, take proactive measures to prevent late-life suicides
- Stronger support network needed for elderly taking care of family members despite being ill, expert says
- Man, 80, died in alleged murder-suicide attempt inside Shek Mun MTR station toilet on Tuesday, while disabled wife with dementia survived
Hong Kong health experts have urged authorities to establish a database for the elderly at risk of taking their own life, among other proactive measures to identify “hidden” older adults, after an 80-year-old man died and his disabled wife was found unconscious in an alleged murder-suicide attempt.
Crystal Yuen Shuk-yan, a former government mental health adviser, on Thursday said a stronger support network was needed for elderly people taking care of their family members despite being ill.
Yuen, also an organiser at the Society for Community Organisation, called on authorities to create the database using the information they had on older adults living in public rental housing or receiving the government’s elderly CSSA payments or Old Age Allowance.
“For those who are not included in this list, we will need more time and effort to go knocking door-to-door to identify elderly people in need,” Yuen told a radio programme.
Requirements for ageing carers applying for aid should also be relaxed, she said, adding financial pressure was a leading cause of their stress.
On Tuesday, an 80-year-old man died in an alleged murder-suicide attempt inside Shek Mun MTR station toilet, while his disabled wife with dementia survived.
The couple were found unconscious inside the public toilet with their heads covered by plastic bags tied with strings.
The man died while his 71-year-old wife, who uses a wheelchair and reportedly suffers from dementia, regained consciousness after being sent to hospital.
A police source said the woman was diagnosed with dementia about 15 years ago and had recently moved into a care home. The man collected his wife from the home for an outing on Tuesday.
More than 188,000 people aged 65 and above live alone in Hong Kong. Almost 400,000 others live with only their spouse in the rapidly ageing city, among which many are “hidden elderly” as they have no family support and are not known to community networks.
Ageing residents living alone account for 13 per cent of the city’s elderly population, according to the 2021 census.
Geriatrician Paul Shea Tat-ming said patients with dementia usually had problems controlling their temper and would lash out at their loved ones.
“They have trouble taking care of themselves, will often lose sleep and shout, or even walk out of their homes in the middle of the night,” he told the same radio show. “They will also accuse their loved ones of stealing their items … For the carers, this is very heartbreaking as they are the patient’s closest kin.”
Yuen said people might feel guilty about placing their loved ones in a care home, especially after hearing rumours about the poor living conditions there.
“They feel like they are incompetent to care for them and have to abandon their loved ones, creating an invisible form of stress,” she said.
“We need social workers in the neighbourhoods to count the elderly in need of care, and find out who proactively goes down to join community activities and who likes to hole up at home.
“For the ‘hidden’ elderly, we need to approach them earlier before their stress builds up and they start to feel helpless, resulting in tragedy.”
Last June, a 75-year-old woman, bedridden with lymphoma, was found extremely weak and dehydrated by firefighters in a flat in Happy Valley. They found her younger brother and carer, aged 71, dead in the bathroom.
The pair’s social worker had alerted a security guard when no one answered the door. According to an insider, the woman had shouted for help, but no one heard her. The man might have been dead for days when the emergency team arrived.
While the government strengthened support for carers last year with a designated 24-hour hotline and more respite services, more outreach was needed to encourage carers to ask for help.
“If we can build a database of the elderly and identify those high-risk cases, we can support them earlier and figure out what kind of help they need so they don’t have to resort to this,” said Yuen, referring to Tuesday’s tragedy.
