90,000 meals for elderly last year

Almost 90,000 meals were delivered to the elderly last year through the popular Meals on Wheels service, an increase of 40 per cent since it was set up 12 years ago.

The increase was brought about when the kitchen staff at St Vincent Paul Residence took over the service in 2008 and prepared about 2,500 meals daily, the Parliamentary Secretary for the Elderly, Mario Galea said. Referring to EU statistics, Mr Galea said 15 per cent of Maltese families were looking after an elderly person in the community.

This figure did not mean that the government was not investing in supplying long-term care and, in the past four years, it had added 800 beds for the elderly who could not live in the community, he said.