By Virgilio C. Ventura
Senior citizens are highly at risk of viral infection most especially when they are also within the contextual instance of socio-economic marginalization in geographical locations that are deemed remote and impoverished.
As age remains the strongest risk factor for severe COVID-19 cases, it is also a qualifying determinant often attributed to often marginalized socio-economic status that delimits our elderlies from accessing medical treatments and professional advice. Geriatric care status is doubly a major challenge when we consider the outcome of infection in such cases as “hospitalization, admission to the intensive care unit (ICU), intubation or mechanical ventilation, or death”1/ where “over half of the elderly in the Philippines have no pension” 2/ and “regardless of contributory or social type.”3/ Many elderly Filipinos who are in their retirement stage are yet unwilling to stop working due to their survival and geriatric care needs.4/
In 2019, information bank Statista Research Department noted that while ischemic heart disease is one of the leading causes of the death of approximately 97.48 thousand people in the Philippines, “the other four leading causes of death were malignant neoplasms, cerebrovascular disease, pneumonia, and diabetes mellitus”.5/ Within the same period, Paramount Direct (a life insurance company that offers senior health care plans) noted that the leading causes of death among the elderly in the Philippines include: 1) heart disease, 2) stroke, and 3) cancer.6/ Towards the end of 2019, the health care landscape has drastically changed with the Covid-19 pandemic that has specifically increased the mortality rate of just about everybody in this planet. There are currently 4,203 detected cases in the country.7/
Having comorbidities (pre-existing health-risk conditions) among our dear senior citizens currently increase their vulnerability to infection of the Covid-19 virus and alarmingly so with the mutated Omicron subvariant called BA.5 that has the capacity for waning immunity from all known Covid-19 vaccines.
It is thus darkly amusing to note the DOH’s recent pronouncements that the country is at a “low risk” Covid-19 status despite the surge of cases since very few incidences of hospitalization are recorded8/ and even a suggestion from the National Commission of Senior Citizens (NCSC) for the Department of Education (DepEd) to “tap qualified senior citizens to become volunteer teachers.”9/ It is thus with much alarm that we call on our national leaders to give more substance to calls for unity to care for our senior citizens through more compassionate legislations and wholistic health program implementation regardless of their particular social status. Let us not immunize ourselves to the plight of our senior citizens on whose shoulders and industry we have built our dreams for a better today and tomorrow. END
NOTES:
1/ Underlying Medical Conditions Associated with Higher Risk for Severe COVID-19: Information for Healthcare Professionals, June 15, 2022. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/clinical-care/underlyingconditions.html
2/ Over half of the elderly in Philippines have no pension, International Labor Organization (ILO), World Social Protection Report 2017-19. https://www.ilo.org/manila/public/pr/WCMS_606067/lang–en/index.htm
3/ Sen. Sonny Angara citing a study by the Coalition of Services of the Elderly (COSE) in Social Pension and our Senior Citizens, Health & Lifestyle (H&L), January 2020.
4/ Senior citizens na naghahanap ng trabaho dumami pa, TV Patrol, ABS-CBN, August 9, 2022. https://fb.watch/eM-Ek8M3H8/
5/ Leading causes of mortality in the Philippines in 2019, by number of deaths, Statista Research Department, July 15, 2022. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1120528/philippines-leading-causes-mortality-by-disease/
6/ What are the main causes of death among seniors in the Philippines, Paramount Direct Blog, June 26, 2019. https://www.paramountdirect.com/blogs/what-are-the-main-causes-of-death-among-seniors-in-the-philippines
7/ Philippine logs 225 new Omicron subvariant cases, Philippine Star, August 12, 2022. https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/08/12/2202226/philippines-logs-225-new-omicron-subvariant-cases
8/ Pilipinas nasa low risk pa rin sa COVID-19: DOH, ABS-CBN News, July 31, 2022. https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/news/07/31/22/pilipinas-low-risk-pa-rin-sa-covid-19-doh?fbclid=IwAR2tPKxmVfuzlwpsRn1EaIEVzv7kPMT0TDc8alkIR-6Llgb96B2TLfrtKuA
9/ Senior citizens can be tapped as volunteer teachers: NCSC, ABS-CBN News, August 11, 2022. https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/11/22/senior-citizens-can-be-tapped-as-volunteer-teachers-ncsc
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