Assembly calls for review of home care criteria |27 June 2009

Both parties in the assembly backed a motion tabled by elected member for Anse Aux Pins Joseph François on Tuesday.

The motion said the requested action would allow for everyone who needs care and attention to benefit with as little complication and public inconvenience as possible.
 
In his presentation, Mr François said the need for such a review is being felt nationally as the home care programme is carried out.

He said the motion is for those people who do not have the means to pay for such a service and cannot abandon their loved ones so as to seek other forms of employment.

Several hundred families are in this predicament and need help from the state, he added.
Mr François said though he recognises the government’s good intentions when the programme was introduced, he also recognises the great diversity of the applicants and our unique cultural and social structures, which may be the reason why some groups of people are not benefiting from the reforms.

The motion generated intense debate, at the end of which both parties agreed that the best person to look after a loved one who is sick and handicapped is a member of the family and not an outsider.