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“India is Now Ageing”
“India has the 2nd largest elderly population in the World”
Earlier, due to low average age span, very few people crossed 60 years; the small
number of the elderly attracted little attention from the medical fraternity as
regards their medical needs. Situation has reversed in the last few decades leading
to a realization that there is a real need to create infrastructure to cater to
the medical and socioeconomic needs of the elderly. It has also been realized that
geriatric care will require a proper private public partnership.
Prelude:
Dr. K. Vijayalakshmi was looking for an Old age home in Hyderabad for her Aunt who
had all her kids abroad and was reluctant to join them.
She has visited number of Old age homes in the twin cities of Hyderabad and looking
from Doctor’s perspective she found that none of the Old age homes were really catering
to the elders who needed certain amount of physical assistance and medical care
for their daily routine.
Medical care provided was on a request basis. Nursing care which is a key component
in Elderly Care was being offered by untrained helpers in most of the places.
This was the scenario 10 years back. Even though the facilities have improved marginally,
there is a huge gap between the demand and supply. In no place we have found a comprehensive
holistic service for the elderly in Hyderabad
To leave no stone unturned Dr. Vijayalakshmi purposely undertook a study tour of
similar homes for the elderly in the twin cities of Hyderabad, Canada and USA with
a view to emulating and replicating their experiences for offering better services.
SSF has embarked on this journey to establish Vijaya Elders Health Care Center with
the following facilities:
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