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JUSTICE JOYCE Bamford-Addo, the Speaker of Parliament has implored the Minister of Justice and Attorney General to consider the possibility of putting together a legislation that would create a legal regime for the care of the aged in the country. Speaker Bamford-Addo proffered the suggestion in Parliament Thursday following a proposal by Stephen Balado Manu, Member of Parliament (MP) for Ahafo Ano South that there should be a law to compel children to take of their parents just like their parents did for them when they were young. Mr. Balado Manu was contributing to a statement made by Ebo Barton-Odro, MP for Cape Coast and Deputy Minister of Justice and Attorney General on �The health care for the aged� in commemoration of Ghana�s 51st Republic Day which fell on Friday, July 1. �The time is ripe for Ghana to fashion out an aged health care policy in order to prepare itself for these anticipated challenges,� the deputy Attorney-General said while paying tribute to the aged in Ghana for playing their respective roles in the development of the country. Mr. Barton-Odro said the number of people 60 years and above living in the country since the 1970 and 2000 censuses had tripled and continues to grow. �Older persons are gradually becoming a demographic force to reckon with in Ghana, hence the need for ageing issues to be taken seriously,� he added. He said in order to prepare for an unprecedented aged population explosion now, �it is of utmost importance that the health systems in developing countries are prepared to address the consequences of these demographic trends.� According to him there were 600 million persons aged 60 and above worldwide, further indicating that research had revealed that the number would double by 2025. The number will reach about 2 billion by 2050 when there would be more people aged 60 years and over than children under the age of 15, he said. The vast majority of the aged, according to the deputy minister, would be living in developing countries which were often least prepared to meet the challenges of rapidly ageing societies. Mr. Barton-Odro said by promoting active and healthy ageing, the Ghana Health Service would among others succeed in improving the attitudes, education and training of health care providers so that they could access and treat conditions that afflicted older persons and empower them to remain healthy. Other MPs contributed to the statement and bemoaned the stress the elderly go through in accessing their pension benefits after retirement as well as the lack of social centers for the aged to interact and share their experiences with the younger generation. MP for Nsuta Kwamang Beposo, Kwame Osei-Prempeh said there were cases of people who �deteriorated so fast and died without getting their pension� after retiring and reiterated the need to right this wrong so that the aged would will live longer. Joseph Yieleh Chireh, MP for Wa West and Minister of Health announced that his ministry was collaborating with the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare to create a policy that would to train personnel in geriatric care to enhance aged health care delivery in the country.