The Ministerial Committee on Ageing’s announcement of a S$3 billion plan to facilitate active ageing is welcomed (“$3b plan to help seniors stay active”; Aug 27).

But it fails to consider whether the seniors have enough energy to take full advantage of the initiatives in lifelong learning, employment, housing, volunteerism and the Active Ageing Hubs.

Providing the physical aspects is easy, but ensuring that seniors have enough of the physical attributes to benefit is the challenge. The S$3 billion could go to waste if nothing is done by way of health maintenance.

For example, my block of flats in Yishun is surrounded by many fitness corners for seniors. The facilities are hardly ever used by the elderly but by children and their parents improvising on its uses every evening.

We must get our priorities right, as S$3 billion is not a small amount. The priority should be on health maintenance, and the S$3 billion plan can be part of that.

Fortunately, there are enough advances in the field of senescence, or biological ageing, to combat the ravaging scourge of ageing.

Under the 80/20 rule, a person’s health depends 80 per cent on nutrition and 20 per cent on exercise. The question is what type of nutrition and what type of exercise.

Scientific research has provided many of the answers. These include, for nutrition, a calorie-restriction optimum-nutrients diet, and, for exercise, the use of only the “slow twitch” muscles.

Prevention is better than cure, and since the science of senescence could provide the methodology, prioritising health maintenance as opposed to healthcare is the answer to Singaporeans’ well-being and to alleviate healthcare costs.