Senior citizens in dire need of palliative care

Hyderabad: India is expected to be home to 300 million elderly people by 2050. "With about 50 per cent of the elderly being financially dependent on others, it is affordable housing, healthcare, and psychological and social manifestations of ageing that we will struggle to respond to as a country with no social security and dismal elderly care facilities," says Hanmantha Reddy, the president of Telangana All Senior Citizens Association.

"Moreover, a majority of senior citizens are in need of palliative care and above 50 per cent of the aged, who are being taken care of by their kin have to look after the children of their families in turn," he added.

The Elderly in India 2016 report by the Ministry of Statistics states that 71 per cent of the aged population resides in the villages. A UN report based on an Agewell Foundation Study in 2018 with more than 10,000 respondents across northern, southern, western, eastern and central India, showed that 62 per cent of the elderly did not get palliative care.

As much as 68 per cent of the elderly, who are being taken care of by their kin, have to look after the children of their families in turn. They have to perform tasks such as baby-sitting in return of proper care and support. As the majority lives in rural areas, healthcare equipment such as wheelchairs, relief material such as adult diapers and care-giving services are a distant thought.

As the number of old age homes under the Integrated Programme for Older Persons (IPOP) has seen a decline from 269 homes in 2012-13 to 145 currently. The Centre has asked State governments to ensure that there are old-age homes whose functioning can be supported under IPOP, but since it is optional for the State governments to decide, the total number of old-age homes remain low and unaffordable.

The percentage of senior citizens in the country is in rise; according to the population demographics of Government of India in 2011 was 8.6 percent of population and the speculated per cent for next year is around 12 percent of population.

Estimates from the United Kingdom-based International Longevity Centre, show that the population of the aged in India is set to increase by over 55 per cent by 2050. Those above 80 years of age will go up by 326 per cent in the same year. In span of a year, India is projected to surpass China as the world's most populous country.