Current scenario of eldercare market, is policy strengthening required in our country?

Neha Sinha, CEO & Co-founder, Epoch Elder Care and dementia specialist highlights that we certainly don’t need to create unending new policies, the need of the hour is to strengthen, revise and implement existing policies on elder care

India is at a crossroads when it comes to elder care. Still considered a young nation, caring for elderly historically (and culturally) has always been considered as an individual, familial responsibility rather than the responsibility of the state or community. One of the few silver linings of the pandemic was to bring the focus on our seniors and their specific needs. As a result, in the last 2 years, we see a substantial jump in the number of elder care players in the private sector concierge services, retirement communities, elder care homes, home care services and assistive technology.

With a current population of 110 million elders (8 per cent of the population), we are all set to see a massive jump, all the way to 330 million – more than 20 per cent of the population by 2050. An increase in chronic medical conditions (more than 70 per cent of people above 60 years have at least one diagnosed chronic condition) and conditions such as Dementia (Dementia alone has more than 5 million reported cases) and Parkinson’s, resulting in an increased pressure on the already strained caregiver ecosystem in India. Lack of professional care services and trained resources leaves the sandwich generation at a loss on planning care management for their parents especially at home.

There is a lot to be done! And not just by the government but by each one of us. Looking after our elders is a moral obligation that we collectively have and it is not going to be solved by stand alone solutions or services but by creating an ecosystem which is safe, healthy and active for us to age in.

Article 41 of our Constitution, mandates the well being of our senior citizens and it quotes “The state shall, within the limits of its economic capacity and development, make effective provision for securing the right to public assistance in cases of old age”. Over the years, the government has also launched several initiatives and schemes. Launched by the Dept of Social Justice and Empowerment, The National Action Plan for Senior Citizens (NAPSrC) -now known as the Atal Vayo Abhyuday Yojana (AVYAY) acts as an umbrella scheme aiming to create an ecosystem for elders namely focusing on financial & food security, healthcare & nutrition, safety & security, housing and welfare. It also talks about an elder helpline, nodal officers in police stations, setting up old age homes, dementia care homes and mobile medical care units. Other schemes run by other ministries/departments for welfare of senior citizens include the National Program for Health care in elderly (NPHCE), Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana’ (PMVVY), Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana (RVY) and others.

A large missing part of the policy planning is the absence of a national dementia strategy or plan yet. Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI), in an official release in the World Health Assembly in 2017 had mentioned that 194 nations had unanimously approved a global national plan on dementia. As per ARDSI (Alzheimer’s & Related Disease Society of India), they have been diligently following up with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare since they have submitted the Dementia India Strategy report to the health minister in Sept, 2019. The good news is that dementia can be now included as part of the District Mental Health Programs as per the Project Implementation Plans.

We certainly don’t need to create unending new policies, the need of the hour is to strengthen, revise and implement existing policies. How do we do that? The first step would be to create effective communication channels to create awareness and educate people about the already existing numerous schemes and policies. How can they be implemented, can we reduce the steps on getting coverage? Effective implementation requires coordination between various bodies, implementation, evaluation and periodic tracking.

How can the private sector and large institutions play an important role? An increase in CSR funding towards the elder care sector would be a welcoming step! A very important conversation is how do we equip younger people to take care of their elders while they deal with pressures of their work lives? There are various policies by the private sector, such as health insurance covers for elderly parents, introducing caregiver benefits as part of labour laws and acknowledging informal caregivers as a defined role. Not just the elders, but even the organisations would have much to benefit from with improved efficiency if caring for parents (just like children) is supported better.

Another aspect would be steps like incentivising organisations to include elders as part of their diversity mandate.

While we ideate the various solutions for making India a better place to age, we must ensure that elders are active participants in defining the future of ageing and policies!