ISLAMABAD, Nov 28: Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education is preparing a bill, titled National Senior Citizen Welfare Bill, to ameliorate facilities for the elderly.

Federal Minister for Social Welfare and Special Education Samina Khalid Ghurki stated this here on Friday while speaking at a certificate distribution ceremony on the conclusion of a three-day workshop on disaster risk reduction for older people.

The workshop was organised at the National Institute of Special Education in collaboration with the Merlin International, Help Age International and the Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education.

It was attended by representatives from different foundations working for senior citizens and officials from the Ministry of Social Welfare.

Around 9.32 million people make up for the country’s senior citizen population and the government is cognisant of addressing the problems being faced by this segment of society, she said.

Deliberating upon the salient features of the draft, she said the initiative aimed at setting up an institutional mechanism for provision of multifarious services for the welfare of senior citizens.

To make this bill unflawed, it has been decided to involve the stakeholders in the whole process. In this connection, a council of senior citizens will be established which would be assigned the task of recommending plans and measures, Ms Ghurki said.

“The Constitution of Pakistan declares promotion of social and economic wellbeing of the people as one of its cherished objectives, she noted.

The constitution guarantees provision of basis necessities of life to all those citizens who are permanently or temporarily unable to earn a living on account of infirmity, sickness or unemployment, she said.

Ms Ghurki hoped that the workshop would have increased awareness of disaster management, saying activities like this could bring a positive change in attitudes of people.