MADURAI
Social workers and NGOs rescuing and rehabilitating elderly destitute people say there has been a rise in the number of people above 60 years of age being abandoned during COVID-19 pandemic.
V.P. Manikandan, a social worker with Nethravathi Pain Palliative Care and Rehabilitation Centre, says he receives 10 to 12 calls each day during lockdown from people who find elderly people on streets as against the five or six calls he used to get earlier. Many ask for paid shelters too and are willing to pay up to ₹3,000 a month for the care of their parents, he says.
R. Balagurusamy, who heads the centre, says most of those abandoned, however, are women. “We have 45 bedridden patients, 40 of whom are women,” he says.
Both say the lockdown has dented the income of many families. “People are unable to provide them three meals a day. Those who can are unable to pay medical bills and engage in caregiving,” Mr. Manikandan says.
Dr. Balagurusamy says women are perceived as ‘useful’ till they contribute to housework or take care of children. “After that, they are considered a burden,” he says.
Founder and head of New Creations Trust C. Glory says they have rescued 110 people from Palanganatham area. She says the lockdown has also made the elderly dependent on their children. Earlier, she says, she has seen many elderly men working at parotta shops and hotels in the evenings. But the shops that are open now do not need help. “These men tend to enter into arguments with their children and leave their homes. They don’t beg, but simply sit outside temples, expecting someone to give them food,” she says.
She, however, says many destitutes now seem more visible on the roads due to lesser activity.
Director of Idhayam Trust G.R. Sivakumar, who worked with Madurai Corporation and rescued 355 people during the initial phase of the lockdown, says the Corporation and the district administration took efforts to ensure that all the elderly who were rescued were reunited with their families.
Collector T.G. Vinay says the district administration’s initial intervention helped many abandoned people meet their families. The district administration has been providing space and financial assistance to a few NGOs. “We have provided space in two buildings. The State government is aiding them financially. We still have a periodic inflow of elderly people but are equipped with the infrastructure,” he says.
