Elderly residents at a dementia home in Sweden are being served porridge without milk for breakfast due to a lack of funds, despite the governing municipality only recently finding the cash to put up migrants in hotels, according to local reports.
The Samnytt news site revealed the demise of pensioners at the Kärråkra’s nursing home in Eslöv, which it claims is just the latest cutback in the quality of care provided to residents in recent years.
“The money has run out,” Sofia Persson, the manager of the facility, told the Skånska Dagbladet newspaper when asked about the substandard breakfast on offer to its elderly residents.
She explained that the care home’s budget for August had been used up before the end of the month, leading to staff being prevented from buying certain staples, including milk, until the following month.
Persson expressed her sadness at the situation and explained that many residents were becoming dissatisfied with the meals on offer, particularly towards the end of the month when finances are stretched, but did note that those who do not wish to partake in a milk-free porridge breakfast are able to opt for sandwiches instead.
The Samyntt news site explains that the food is not even publicly funded for all residents, with those with the means to pay being charged for the breakfasts, and these prices were hiked recently by the local council.
The crisis comes at a time when the local government is finding the money to fund hotel accommodation for new arrivals into Sweden.
“Elderly people in wheelchairs with broken hips are thrown out into the street and 90-year-olds who cannot manage at home are denied a place in nursing homes. This is at the same time as the municipality of Eslöv has spent tens of millions on housing so-called unaccompanied migrants in hotels,” the site stated.
It expressed further concern over the quality of care being provided to those residents who remain in nursing homes in the region, reporting how an increasing number of staff members at the facilities are new arrivals in the country and struggle to communicate with the residents in Swedish and also lack adequate training.
“Eslöv is not unique, this is how it looks in most municipalities in Sweden today,” it added.
As early as 2015, Reuters reported that Sweden’s soaring costs for asylum seekers were forcing the country to cut costs and borrow more.
At that time, Sweden’s Migration Agency had doubled its financial forecast for asylum seekers and stated that it would require an extra 70 billion Swedish crowns ($8.41 billion) over the next two years. Since then, Sweden’s migrant population has only exploded higher.
Reuters wrote at that time that “Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson said asylum costs were unsustainable in the longer term and called on other European countries to do more to share the burden.”
The same story has played out across Europe, with figures from Germany showing the country is set to spend €36 billion alone this year, 2023, on migrants even as is cuts services and funds to the elderly.