Janardhanan*, who turned 80 three weeks ago, has been bed-ridden for close to a year. Recently, his son fixed a date for a house warming ceremony for his new home. Janardhanan, however, was unsure if he could attend. But, instead of giving up hope, he got in touch with city-based start-up HealthAbove60 to find a solution. When he finally attended the function, with the help of an and nurses, the family's joy knew no bounds. For the HealthAbove60 team, it was just another day's work.
The start-up, which began last year, caters to the needs of the geriatric population. "We provide all kinds of care — from counselling to home healthcare — to help the elderly lead a comfortable life," J. Krishna Kavya, co-founder of the startup said.
They have a team of doctors, including specialists, to undertake house visits; nurses for daily care and even people for undertake health checkups and physiotherapy at home. "For many of the elders, a family physician who knows their condition and who can prescribe and even deliver medicine is essential. For others, just someone who will listen to them is enough. We make sure we provide elders all these services," she said. The home nurses go through a rigorous weekly or bi-monthly training process to help them care for the elderly, and a number of checks are in place to ensure that the quality of service is high, she added.
In the past year, 500 clients used their services. They can be reached at 9884639400 orresponse@healthabove60.com.
Beware men! You are not shielded from 'silent killers'
It’s commonly referred as a condition that affects a large number of women, but not many realise that men too, are affected.
Anaemia, a condition where the blood does not contain enough red blood cells or haemoglobin, can cause symptoms like fatigue, weakness, dizziness, shortness of breath and headaches among others, when severe. When the haemoglobin levels drop significantly, it can even trigger cardiac arrests. If you are anaemic, it is important to find out why — it could due to nutritional deficiency such as lack of iron. It can also be because of blood loss or diseases such as cancer in the colon can manifest like anaemia,” said K.R. Palaniswamy, senior consultant gastroenterologist, Apollo Hospitals.
Studies show that although young children, adolescent girls, and pregnant women are most vulnerable, a sizeable population of men too, have anaemia. In ‘Anaemia ‘a silent killer’ among women in India: Present scenario’, by Kawaljit Kaur in the European Journal of Zoological Research, 2014, the author states that India has among the highest number of cases of anaemia in the world with an estimated 50 percent of the population affected. The primary causes are nutritional and infectious, the study said.
A recent survey by SRL Diagnostics found that of the 30 lakh men screened from 2012 to 2014, 43.5 percent of the samples had abnormal haemoglobin levels with the group above 45 years found to be at higher risk. While the east zone had the highest rates of abnormality at 52.4 percent, the south zone had the least at 27 percent. “he survey highlights the importance of testing for anaemia,” said Leena Chatterjee, director, Fortis SRL Labs & SRL Strategic Initiatives.
(Reporting by Kavita Kishore
and Zubeda Hamid)
