The meeting will focus on measures to improve the social activity of the older generation, to improve the quality of medical assistance and provision of medications for pensioners, including the provision of services at home.
The meeting will be attended by Minister of Labour and Social Security Maxim Topilin, Minister of Healthcare Veronika Skvortsova, regional leaders, representatives of non-government organisations implementing projects in the field of social services and activists from veterans' organisations.
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- The Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) estimates that the number of people of retirement age will reach 39.4 million by early 2021. An assessment of the situation of senior citizens highlights the following three main problems facing elderly people:
Low material standards;Poor health;Lack of social involvement and loneliness.
In recent years there has been a steady increase in employment for people of retirement age. There are currently 9.7 million senior citizens (13.4% of the total working population) employed in the national economy. Over 300,000 unemployed pensioners are looking for jobs and are ready to start working.
In March 2012, the Government approved a number of measures to enable more pensioners and people approaching retirement age in 2012 and 2013 to be employed. This will provide them with additional employment opportunities.
- Medical assistance and the provision of medications to senior citizens are an important aspect of government policy in this area. In an effort to make medical assistance more affordable, the Ministry of Healthcare has drafted a new procedure for conducting preventive medical checkups for specific categories of the adult population. Under this procedure, from 2013, under the programme of state guarantees for providing free medical assistance, senior citizens will be able to undergo in-depth medical checkups and receive consultations from medical specialists once every three years.
- Efforts have been made to improve the organisation of the provision of medicines for the elderly. Some categories of senior citizens will be able to receive medicines from a list of vital and essential drugs. Elderly people suffering from chronic health disorders will receive the relevant prescriptions for periods of at least three months.
- In order to increase pensions to minimum regional subsistence levels, the Government has introduced social pension supplements at the federal and regional levels since 2010. Over three million pensioners are in receipt of these supplements.
In addition, specific categories of elderly citizens, including veterans, people with disabilities and others, receive monthly payments from the federal budget. National legislation makes it possible to obtain part of these payments in the form of state social assistance as a set of social services, including medications, travel subsidies, and treatment at sanatoriums and resorts. A new consumer goods basket for pensioners, due to be introduced in early 2013, will be used to calculate the minimum cost of living for pensioners.
The Government is also focussing on active lifestyles for pensioners, leisure and recreation, and education opportunities. For instance, the so-called "Third-Age Universities," and computer classes and hobby groups for active senior citizens have been established in the regions. Clubs for senior citizens are gaining in popularity and are enabling them to unlock their creative potential and talents and to display various interests and inclinations. Various annual folk-art festivals among senior citizens are also being held.