Eldercare is an emergency which our country needs to address at the earliest. With life spans increasing, it is important as a society to ensure that we do everything to take care of the elderly.
Eldercare is an emergency which our country needs to address at the earliest. Recently, the Government took a decision to expand the definition of caregivers under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007. The amendments to the Act, cleared by the Union cabinet on 4th December, have been expanded to include parents-in-law and grandparents, whether or not senior citizens. The bill, proposes to remove the cap of Rs 10,000 as maximum maintenance, sources said. The draft bill also proposes to register agencies providing ‘home care services’.
With nuclear families being the norm and kin migrating to different parts of the world for job mobility, it has become a challenge for elderly parents living alone. In this light, this Act, modifying the 2007 Act is a welcome move. Having uniform age criteria, putting not just the biological children but also children-in-law, adopted children and step children is a positive development. However, the uniform cap of Rs 10,000 per month is meaningless as it would vary on a case-to-case basis.
The elderly, who spend their best years taking care of us, deserve all the support and care in their sunset years as well. It is unfortunate, however, that, in this generation, we need to bring a law to ensure this is implemented. By bringing out a legislation, the government has ensured that requisite attention is given to them and there is some recourse to the neglected section. With life spans increasing, it is important as a society to ensure that we do everything to take care of the elderly.
While steps to register services like elder care homes, home care agencies, provision of care to elderly are all laudable, the real challenge is lack of facilities, the cost of elder care and complete non-availability of insurance. Unless we fix the economic angle and create some institutional solutions with government funding and sponsorship, we would continue to fail in our ability to take care of the elderly people.
Ms Meena Ganesh
Co-Founder, MD & CEO
Portea Medical.
