Hear why the municipality invests in lending tablets and what the seniors themselves think in the clip above.
SVT reported on the decision to lend tablets to the elderly already last year.
However, due to the pandemic, lending has been delayed.
Now it's getting serious.
The first tablets were released on Wednesday morning.
And in two hours they were gone.
- It was an incredible pressure, says Fredrik Arvevik, senior health consultant in the City of Borås.
Many do not have a computer
The purpose of lending tablets is to reduce digital exclusion.
As many as 400,000 Swedes over 65 live in digital exclusion, according to a report from the Swedish Public Health Agency at the end of 2018. Every fifth person in the age group 65–85 does not have a computer or telephone to use the internet.
The tablets will be distributed for two years until the end of 2022. The next time the tablets will be released is 1 February.
Free to borrow the tablets
The tablets go to those who hear from them first.
Around 350 plates are planned to be distributed annually.
The project is financed by government grants that the City of Borås has received for the strengthening of elderly care.
The grant is just over SEK 5 million.
It costs nothing to borrow tablets.
After borrowing the tablets for three years, the seniors can buy them.