Triangle Net Tools for Fair Non-Discriminated Healthcare for Elderly People Conference was organized within the scope of October 1 World Elderly Day activities.

“Fair Non-Discriminated Healthcare for Elderly People” Project conducted by System and Generation Association under Civil Society Dialogue Program hosted an important conference. A series of activities were carried out to introduce practices from EU member countries in terms of supporting elderly care services and preventing abuse of elderly in Turkey.

Mutual study visits have been organized within the scope of the project which is being implemented in collaboration with similar organizations from England and Germany. These practices were examined on site and detailed information was gathered. A training module for elderly care was also developed and a conference was held to share the activities and results of the project with the Ministry of Family and Social Policies. Officials from the Ministry of European Union Affairs and the Ministry of Family and Social Policies participated in the conference which was organized under the auspices of  Aysen Gurcan, Minister of Family and Social Policies. During her remarks, the Minister Gürcan said: “No institution can take the place of the family. Even if you provide the best quality services, it is not possible to give the warmth of the family environment. Our ministry is primarily supporting the elderly to live in their family environments and adopting this policy”.

The Minister Gürcan mentioned during her speech that, the proportion of elderly population has been increasing in Turkey and EU countries. She said that growing old should be considered as a social and cultural process and this process should be functional and healthy..

“Elderly care is becoming more important”

Mehmet Cangir, Ministry of European Union Deputy Undersecretary, thanked the System and Generation Association and Ministry of Family and Social Policies for their participation in the project.

Cangir mentioned that they implemented more than 2 thousand legislations during EU accession process and these projects helped them to understand how far these legislations have been used. Cangir pointed out that the project served as a model and such projects established the dialogue with the European Union.

İshak Çiftçi, The General Director of Disabled and Elderly Care Services stated that since Turkey has became one of the countries in the world with high population of old people, the elderly care was becoming more important and they have been working to ensure that elderly received better care services.

For detailed information about the project and its activities, please visit www.trianglenet.info