During the pandemic most old age homes faced financial issues while most of them saw increase in admission of new elderly people in Pune.
Pune: As the Covid-19 pandemic started ,old age homes across Pune saw an increase in the number of admission of new elderly people, while many of them faced financial crisis, due to lack of donations. Mrs. Ganga Patil owner of Shivganga Vrudhashram in Pune said that “lockdown was difficult for us; we faced a lot of financial issues as there were no donations from anyone.”
Mrs. Nalini Dhende of Nirmala Seva Mahila Vrudhashram said, “It was really difficult and challenging for us emotionally and financially. New admissions were there, most of them were in critical condition with serious health issues. Every day I used to receive calls from families and children to keep their parents here. During lockdown an old lady called me and said that her son had beaten her and forced her to leave the home.”
Sam D’souza from Hope Old Age Home & Care Center, Pune said “There was an increase in the number of new old people in our old age home. Post-Covid the admissions were 20-30 monthly, but it suddenly increased to 50-60 new old people monthly during pandemic.”
The support group which includes doctors and nurses who used to help the old age homes free of cost have also stopped providing health care service. As the team itself was not getting donations for the treatment they used to do post Covid-19. . The HelpAge India , (Health Mobilization Team), Manager Mr. Rajeev S. Kulkarni said “Our mobilization team was unable to help most of the people, because of the pandemic. We used to provide free medical assistance because of non-funding from donors we were unable to do it.”
Since the lockdown has been lifted in Pune, old age homes have started getting donations from people. However one old age home owner says that the elderly people are facing emotional and physical challenges, but still they are trying to get back to their normal life.
