National Policy on Older Persons

In May 1999, "National Council for Older Person" was constituted by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India. The policy states that the state government will take initiatives for providing, relief and concessions to Elderly people for the improvement in quality of life. It shows a complete picture of facilities like welfare, maintenance, financial security, protection of  life and property,  healthcare, etc. Various institutions and departments of Delhi government have started working for the same.

1) Health Clinic Department:-

For Senior citizens, Special Clinics have been started on Sundays for the age of 60 and above in 9 hospitals under government. The hospitals are- Lok Nayak Hospital, GTB Hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, Aruna Asaf Ali Hospital, Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, Dr. Joshi Memorial Hospital, Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital, Rao Tula Ram Memorial Hospital, Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital.

The timing for the function of clinic is from 10:00am to 12:00pm. Services like medicine, surgery, orthopaedics, gynaecology, ENT and eye specialists supported with Pathological tests and Radiological diagnostic facilities will be provided in the hospitals. Separate queue for Senior Citizens are there, so that they do not face any kind of difficulty while buying medicines.

2) Delhi Transport Corporation:- 

For Senior citizens concession will be there on pases at the following rates:- 

• Concessional passes are being issued to senior citizens at the following rates: 

              i)  Type of Pass : Destination

                   Rs. 50/-

             ii)  Type of Pass : All Route

                   Rs. 125/-

           iii)  Type of Pass : All Route (with G.L. facility)

                  Rs. 150/-

• Separate queues will be there for Senior Citizens at Pass Section for issue/renewal of passes.
• As there is no provision of reservation seats in DTC so, "Please offer seats to Old citizens" is written inside buses.

http://delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/doit_socialwelfare/SocialWelfare/Home/Our+Services/Social+Security+and+Old+Age+Welfare/National+Policy+on+Older+Persons

Mobile Medicare Units

 Many Elderly people can not afford medical treatment or going to big cities for treatment, so "HelpAge India"-  NGO for Elderly people launched Mobile Medicare Units in 1982. Every MMU  has a qualified Doctor, a social worker, a pharmacit and many medicines that are given free of cost. In the year 2008-2009, 10 Lakh people were treated by  MMU. Its working scope and area is increasing day by day.













Refrence for above article :- http://www.helpageindia.org/relief-mobile-medicare-units.php

Retirment Homes

Till now there are 728 Old Age Homes in India. Information about 547 homes are available in detail. Out of 547, 325 Old Age Homes are free of cost whereas 95 Old Age Homes are on pay and stay basis,  116 homes are free as well as charge for stay, there is no information about rest 11. 278 Retirement Homes are for sick people in all over India and 101 homes are only for women. Kerala is a state with the maximum number of Old Age Homes i.e. 124.

Film Industry

I think, Hindi Film Industry has made a remarkable contribution by making movies like Baghban, Lage Raho Munna Bhai. It really affects the mentality of a person and make them realise their mistake if they are among those who left their parents in an Old Age Home.

She's my pillar of Strength

The above newspaper article is a character sketch of a strong lady who is really strong even in her last last of life. She is loving, caring and generous. She has great patience and has good cooking skills too. An inspirational article...must read it.


From The Times of India

An example of Unity in humanity

Rajasthan Patrika, Jodhpur


An old christian lady's agony was understood by a muslim brother and a Hindu sister. After herhusband's death the childless lady kept her brother-in -law in her home like her own son. But he seized her property and ill-treated her. The lady, Nargis Micheal Roberts, was a teacher for 30 years in a reputed convent school of her city, She retired in 2007 and just a year before she lost her husband. To get rid of loneliness, she called her brother-in-law and sister-in law who werew living in a rented house, to live with her.But after some time, they took away the house and locked her up and kept pressurinsing her to transfer the ownership of the house in their name. They started assaulting her, gave her sedatives, and took her thump impression instead of signature. One day by luck, she managed to escape as the door was left open by mistake and went to neighbours for help.

National Healthcare Institutes for Elderly

Government of India has planned to establish National Institute for research related to Old age medicines and health care in Delhi and Chennai.

"National Institutes of Ageing would be setup at AIIMS, Delhi and Madras Medical College, Chennai.

On the occasion of International Day of Older Persons, Mr. Gulam Nabi Azad (Minister of Health and Family Welfare) said that the "National Programme for Health Care of Elderly" (NPHCE) was introduced or setup by government  in order to look after the medical requirements of Senior Citizens.

The fundamental objective of NPHCE Programme is to establish geriatric wards, rehabilitation centers and geriatric clinics at various levels of the district health care delivery system. The designing of the Programme  is to aspire in preventing, curing and rehabilitating the geriatric field.

There will be 8 regional centers i.e. Delhi, Varanasi, Srinagar Thiruvananthapuram, Guwahati, Chennai, Jodhpur. Rupees 30 crore will be the aid given to each regional center and modern equipments aid, trined staff will be provided, Azad said.

Due to advancement in Medical field, the life expectancy ratio has increased, thus increasing the population of senior citizens. As per the census of 2001, Senior Citizens above the age of 60 was 76.6 million which constitutes 7.5% of total population. At this rate of increament, it is projected to become 173 million by 2026.