A man’s life is normally divided into five main stages namely infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. In each of these stages an individual has to find himself in different situations and face different problems. The goal of the geriatric care considering the high prevalence of chronic diseases in this age group is focused on detecting and managing diseases. The elderly tend to be cared in a variety of settings: home, nursing home, day care centre, senior citizens OPD, medical units and intensive care unit depending on the nature of the clinical problems. An elderly patient may have his/her own bias or prejudice about ageing. After a certain age health problems begin to crop up leading to losing control over one’s body, even not recognizing own family owing to Alzheimer are common in old age. It is then children began to see their parents as burden. It is these parents who at times wander out of their homes or are thrown out. Some dump their old parents or grandparents in old-age homes and don’t even come to visit them anymore.
Rights of the Elderly
- Parents cannot be evicted from a house without due process of law if they have been staying there from before. There is three enactments that can be applied.
- Under section 125 of the CrPC, a magistrate can order a child to maintain his old parents under the Maintenance of Parents Act.
- The Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act say an aged parent can demand maintenance from children in the same way that a wife can demand it from her husband.
- The Domestic Violence Act too provides parents with the right to seek relief from any kind of abuse.
A National Policy on older persons was announced in January 1999 which identified a number of areas of intervention-financial security, healthcare and nutrition, shelter, education, welfare, protection of life and property for the wellbeing of older persons in the country. A National Council for Older Persons (NCOP) was constituted by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to operationalize the National Policy on older persons.
