Most minority elders have major issue with care services

Adelyn Lau

More than 80 percent of ethnic minority elders and caregivers have never used services at mainstream centers due to language barriers, cultural differences and a lack of suitable referral channels that undermine the confidence of those elders who have accessed them, according to a local non-governmental organization.

That was a conclusion reached in the wake of a Hong Kong Christian Service poll on the use of such services by ethnic minority elders from November to April.

That took in 200 south and southeast Asian elders aged 60 or above under the organization's support to ethnic elderly project and 50 caregivers.

According to the 2021 population census, there are around 50,000 ethnic minorities aged 60 or above.

The poll found that over 54 percent of caregivers rated their confidence in accessing appropriate public services at just one to five out of 10.

Also, 87.6 percent of respondents have never used mainstream services, with just 10 percent managing to.

Of those who did, 29 percent indicated that language barriers were one of the challenges encountered.

Said Viola Tsang Yuen-kei, head of active aging and community care service: "Ethnic minority elders have not undergone the standardized care need assessment mechanism for services conducted by the Social Welfare Department, as it is only available in Chinese."

Nanda Gurung, a 33-year-old Nepalese housewife and project participant, can only speak basic Cantonese and mostly Nepalese.

She is the sole caregiver for her two children and in-laws, who are aged over 74.

"I have to take my in-laws for medical appointments. When these clash with my kids' schedules, I need to get friends to take them to school and care for them. Sometimes, I need to pay extra for after-school care for my six-year-old daughter," she said, adding she has almost no personal time to develop her interests compared to her peers.

The service suggests government and mainstream service providers offer information in multiple languages through different forms and channels, including audio broadcasts and simple and easy-to-understand translations of information.