Senior citizens’ longevity means that vacant beds at St Vincent de Paul Residence are hard to come by, Health Minister Joseph Cassar, also responsible for the care of the elderly, told Parliament yesterday.

Answering a number of supplementary questions by opposition MPs Noel Farrugia and Silvio Parnis, Dr Cassar said that when he had graduated as a doctor in 1990 the rate of deaths at SVDP had been almost one a day, whereas now it was one every three weeks or so. This was positive, but it meant beds becoming vacant were few and far between.

It was not a question of the rate at which the government could build new homes for the elderly, but one of having available the necessary caring staff. So what really mattered most was availability of qualified human resources. Accommodation at SVDP was also determined by the availability there of specialised care for their specific conditions.

Dr Cassar said that when somebody lived to a ripe old age, sometimes as long as 90 and 95, their children could be 70 and needed help themselves, so they could not cope with bedridden parents. It was much more efficient to have carers working in an old people’s home than running around to visit private homes.

The minister said there were currently 211 fully-occupied beds at Karen Grech Hospital with two types of patients: those needing rehabilitation (all of whom did not have to be senior citizens) and others waiting for beds to become vacant elsewhere.