It is 9.30 on a Tuesday morning and 70-odd men and women, majority of them over 70 years old are gathered around a van stationed in front of a tea kiosk at Subramaniyapuram. Their age-spotted faces and hands narrate stories of slow decay of their health. But their lips bear a smile and eyes hope.
Some of them have carried their grandchildren in lap, some stand in a queue waiting silently. Men discuss the Kabali fever and some women exchange their daily banter about household chores and woes. The man who does business on a cloudy morning is the chaiwallah, and, it is a typical Tuesday scene in this downtown area.
Significantly, nobody talks about illness. Yet, week after week for the past 10 years, the HelpAge India van has been parking here to provide basic minimum care to the elderly.
At 73, Mariammal has osteo-arthritis. She walks with difficulty but looks forward to the weekly visit here. “I feel good after meeting the staff in the van.” Flashing her Senior Citizen Privilege Card issued by HelpAge India, Mariammal continues, “They listen to me patiently, give me so much time and also free medicine.” She claims she is one of the oldest and early members of the Mobile Health Unit (MHU) ever since it started coming to Subramaniyapuram in 2007.
Lakshmiammal is 71 and suffers from asthma. She broods about her visit to a private nursing home in the vicinity that ripped Rs.500 off her on her first visit seven years ago. “I do not have money to spend on my medicines. I have a full family of daughters-in-law and grandchildren and their healthcare gets priority,” she says. She also finds the Government Hospital far and crowded. And so, she trusts the mobile unit. “The doctor talks to me so nicely. The medicines I get from here give me relief,” she endorses.
Whether it is 72 years old Sahara Beevi with back pain or Pal Pandi at 68 with blood pressure, they unanimously drive home the same points -- the staff behaviour, time given to each of them, the regular hassle-free check-up and distribution of free medicines.
“It is important to understand the loneliness of the elderly,” says Dr.M.Sujatha. “Even if they are not sick, we just hear them out and give them some basic vitamin and calcium tablets and they feel so happy and confident,” she adds. But mostly, she continues, they come with pain in different parts of the body, or mild fever, abdominal pain and BP. Dr.Sujatha with MBBS degree from Coimbatore, chose never to work in a hospital. She worked at the Chinmaya Centre, Coimbatore before joining HelpAge in Madurai in 2007. “I derive satisfaction from being service-oriented,” she says, “When you start working in government or private establishments you lose yourself in the race for money, promotions and other perks,” she adds.
So along with the HelpAge India-Madurai team consisting of pharmacist J.Vijayabaskaran, counsellor M.Shanmugam, who also doubles up as the driver of the van, the project manager K.V.Vijayaprakash and two volunteers from the Madurai Institute of Social Sciences, she examines roughly 1,000 senior citizens every week. The MHU, which was launched in July 2007, covers 10 slum areas across the city now to provide primary health care facilities and improve the health status of the aging poor. From Monday to Friday, the team visits two different allocated sites in the morning and afternoon session where on an average 90 to 120 senior citizens turn up at each place.
Says Vijayaprakash, in the last decade nearly 200,000 people have benefitted from this flagship project of the non-profit NGO. “The basic medical services which should be the right of the elderly are either not available or easily accessible to them or they cannot afford what is available,” he says to underline the need for geriatric care and why HelpAge India stepped in to reach the unreached.
Unlike many senior citizens who burn a hole in their pockets or agonise over their visits to crowded hospitals and health centres, the elderly population in Ambedkar Nagar, Prasanna Colony, Chatrapatti village, Sellur, Bibikulam, Vandiyur, Anuppanadi, Vaalaithoppu, Appantirupathi village and Subramaniyapuram are getting comprehensive counselling and basic medicare without any tension.
“This programme gives the senior citizen basic health security and more importantly emotional support,” asserts Vijayaprakash. Far and between, there have been acute episodes as well of haematemesis (vomiting of blood), for instance, and we have rushed them to the hospital on time, he adds.
“It is the time spent together discussing old age worries, dietary and nutritious meals, ways to keep active and even spiritual matters that often offers the best senior care solution for the elders,” reiterates Dr.Sujatha. “By taking care of them in a supervised clinical manner, we try to boost their quality of life, because that contributes to the success of a person aging,” she adds.
Mobile Health Unit programme
The Mobile Health Unit programme was launched by HelpAge India in 1982 and has 120 units running across the country now. Every year 1.8 million people benefit from the programme.
For running the MHU programme in Madurai, the vehicle was donated by ARR Charities, Chennai while city-based Hi-Tech Arai Pvt.Ltd. has been sponsoring the programme under its CSR from the beginning.
