Science Minister suggests Electronic Tags for the Elderly

Science Minister suggests Electronic Tags for the Elderly
Yesterday the Science Minister Malcolm Wicks proposed a plan to the Commons science and technology committee to make the elderly people in the country more independent. He suggested that the senior citizens suffering from dementia, especially Alzheimer's disease, be 'tagged'.

Earlier, Minister Wicks had met satellite tracking experts to discuss with them whether the type of tagging used for tracking cars could be adapted to tracing people. The minister believes that this step would afford more freedom to the 80- and 90-year-olds, suffering from Alzheimer's, and let them live their normal lives at their homes for a slightly longer time than otherwise. According to Wicks, the satellite-monitored tags would help family and carers to easily trace the whereabouts of an aged person and rest assured that the senior citizen is safe when the person decides to go out alone.

Wick's proposal has been received with mixed feelings. Charities like the Alzheimer's Society and Help the Aged have not discounted the plan straight away. Some authorities think that many care centers would use this method to reduce the number of carers on the payroll. Though they believe that the electronic tagging may be misused and end up becoming a cost-cutting substitute, thereby interfering with the necessary proper care for the elderly, they also think that the idea if implemented conscientiously by the carers would help make the senior citizens' life better.

Further, some others believe that for the plan to be successful, a substitute for the term 'tagging' needs to be found so as to not hurt the elderly people's sentiments. Also, the senior citizens' consent for the procedure as well as their family's or carer's consent needs to be taken before the electronic tags can be placed on them.

There are approximately 700,000 dementia-afflicted people in Britain today. This figure is expected to go up to more than a million in the next two decades and about 1.7 million by 2050. If this new method of keeping track of the elderly is approved, many of these senior citizens will continue to lead their normal lives despite the disease.