Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan has called for bestowing special care upon elders during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“They took care of us with a lot of affection and love. It is now our responsibility to serve them with special care and attention to enable them to cope up with the pandemic conditions,” she added.
Participating as chief guest in the semi-annual virtual summit of the Metropolitan Asian Family Services (MAFS), Chicago, USA, from the Raj Bhavan, here, she stated that with the co-morbid conditions, elders were at a greater risk and ‘we all need to give them special attention and care for their protection’.
Referring to some instances, where senior citizens were kept away from families in the misconstrued practice of social distance, the Governor advised against any such social isolation of elders.
Stressing the need to create better understanding of the pandemic and the conditions among senior citizens, she said this would help them come out of depression and face it with a right approach.
“It is high time that we shall extend better medical care, communication, motivation and psychological and emotional support to our elders,” she exhorted people.
Dr. Soundararajan also called for increased importance to geriatric studies and care on a par with paediatric care so as to give better care to elders in their twilight years.
The Governor appreciated the efforts of MAFS founder Santosh Kumar for her dedicated service to elders in the USA for the past 28 years.
US Congressman Danny K Devis, MAFS president Firdaus Jafri, Sher-e-Kashmir Agricultural Science and Technology vice-chancellor J P Sharma, Dr. Vijay Prabhakar, and Dr. Srinivas Reddy spoke during the virtual summit.
