Senior citizens demand better retirement life

A number of senior citizens expressed frustration over their lives after retirement. They called on relevant bodies to help establish recreational clubs for them and include them in the medical insurance.
Some of these seniors told Arab News that they want to spend some of their free time in centers or clubs in their neighborhoods, engaging in activities that they cannot do given the lack of proper infrastructure for people of their age. According to this group, there is a great need for rest houses to accommodate them after retirement.
When it comes to medical insurance, they claim that private hospitals take a big portion of money of the already low retirement wages they are receiving.
Saeed Abdul Rahman retired a month ago after working as a teacher for the past 35 years. “Before I reached retirement age, I heard that there were clubs in the neighborhoods for retired people to spend their time in a productive way and meet their physiological needs,” he said. However, Abdul Rahman was disappointed to see that, in reality, these clubs do not exist.
Teacher Misfir Ibrahim, who is only a few days away from retirement, worries how he will spend his time in the near future. After working in education for 30 years, he says his day was split between education and family, and expects to feel a huge void. He bemoaned the fact that he doesn’t have a place to spend his time and meet friends with whom to practice hobbies together.
On the financial level, he feels that there is also a crucial need to include the retired in the medical insurance. “Most retired people are over 60 and are in need of medical care to fight disease, such as high blood pressure and diabetes,” he said.
Naser Al-Sayed, another teacher for whom retirement is looming on the horizon, says there is a need for these centers to break the routine and kill time among those who spent their lives serving the country and its citizens.
Government employee Ibrahim Al-Harbi believes that authorities need to repay those who worked hard all their lives to convey the noble messages and instill social values for the new generations.
“In many cases, the retired feel lonely and abandoned after being attached to their professional colleagues for a large part of their lives,” Al-Harbi said. According to him, other family members are be busy with their lives and work and have no time to focus on retired people.