Solitary autumn years: Keralam to face new challenges with rise in elderly population
Keralam’s elderly population is poised to go up significantly in a decade, which in turn, would bring up new challenges for the State in the elderly care. R.K. Roshni meets some of the elders and experts to understand the ground situation
Keralam recently made a significant step towards elderly care by establishing a dedicated department for the elderly.
Sadia (name changed), a domestic worker in Thiruvananthapuram, took leave and travelled to neighbouring Tamil Nadu a couple of days every week to look after her ageing mother.
She was also trying to get her brother to sell off their parents’ house or at least rent it out so that she did not have to worry about supporting her mother who had serious ailments. Half of Sadia’s salary would go towards the cost of medicines and other expenses of her mother who lived with Sadia’s unemployed sister. Their brother, who lives with his wife’s family, was not in a position to look after their mother either.
- keralam
- population
- autumn
- challenge
- rise
- decade
- turn
- state
