Medical scheme to cater to senior citizens whose children live abroad

The following article m,ay be of interest to Indians Living
overseas and whose aged parents are home alone in India

TREND R. Hari Ramesh has developed a unique medical scheme to cater to

senior citizens whose children live abroad. PRINCE FREDERICK catches

up with the general physician and geriatrician

R.Hari Ramesh is rudely woken up in the middle of the night by the

piercing ring of his cellphone. The caller is in panic. Speaking in

accented English, he says “Doc, there is an emergency at home. My mom

is not answering my calls. I am worried!” Dr. Hari checks on the old

lady who lives in Chennai with a fulltime helper and reports to her

anxious NRI son: “She is fine. She was sleeping too soundly to hear

the phone. The helper is on a day's leave.”

Dr. Hari is not upset by the false alarm. Like many others, this NRI

has paid him a retainer to keep a watch on his parent in Chennai. The

service includes carrying out a variety of medical check-ups and also

attending to emergencies. The general physician and geriatrician has

built a unique medical practice, catering to ‘NRI parents' around

Adyar and Thiruvanmiyur by entering into annual medical contracts.

For a fixed sum of $ 1000 per annum, Dr. Hari and his team will

regularly visit senior citizens signed on the programme and conduct a

series of tests (including ECG, blood sugar, blood pressure),

supervise the intake of prescribed drugs (if necessary) and conduct

master health check-ups. The package includes a 24-hour doctor-on-call

and ambulance service, and the online relay of the health status of

these patients to their NRI children.

The health package was born out of the concerns frequently voiced by

NRI children of Dr. Hari's patients. The doctor sensed a demand for it

around 12 years ago. While he has been accepting requests for a 24/7

care of such senior citizens for many years now, it is only recently

that it evolved into a comprehensive medical service scheme, which he

calls ‘Home Health Care'. While his medical programme remains

committed to its original goal of serving aged parents of NRIs, it

also caters to other seniors. “We also offer packages tailored for the

slightly different needs faced by senior citizens whose children are

with them.”

Dr. Hari admits that he is not building on an original concept. He

traces his work to what is well-entrenched in Indian society: the idea

of the family physician.

“What we do basically is go to the patient and take care of him/her,

but we have added newer dimensions to this familiar concept to address

the complications of modern life, one of which is aged parents living

alone. It is only going to get more complicated in the future. In

2020, the biggest socio-medico-economic problem in India is not going

to be HIV-AIDS or tuberculosis or any other condition. It's going to

be old age. As a result of medical advancements, life expectancy in

India keeps going up. When people live longer, they tend to develop

degenerative conditions that make them dependant on others.”

Dr. Hari is convinced that preventive or prophylactic pre-paid care of

the aged is the model of the future. Given its rich potential, he

persists with it despite encountering certain problems while

practising it. “Often, the opposition to this model comes from the

patients themselves. The majority of seniors don't warm up to the idea

of being visited by a doctor when they are not in any form of

distress. The service often serves the goal of preventive care, which

is lost on most seniors.”

The NRI children have, however, extended rock-solid support to Dr.

Hari. One of them, Raghu Ram, wants the doctor to take this service to

the other parts of the city and is willing to work with him towards

this end. The plan involves introducing this service in other

localities, including Mylapore, T. Nagar, Kodambakkam, Nungambakkam,

Velachery and Anna Nagar. “From Anna Nagar to Adyar” is how Dr. Hari

refers to this initiative. Among the features planned to be added to

the care of the aged are home monitoring gadgets — including

geo-fencing aids and warning relay instruments — and advanced

electronic medical records.

Dr. Hari is also indirectly spreading this model beyond Chennai.

“Doctors in Mumbai and Delhi have contacted me and inquired about this

model and I have only been too glad to help them adopt it. It's not

good to keep a good thing confined to a city.”