People 60 and older are at far higher risk of getting very sick or dying from the coronavirus. And people 85 and over are even more vulnerable.
India’s National Commission for Women’s has established a task force #HappytoHelp that has been specially established for helping the elderly who require medical attention or are facing difficulty in getting grocery or medicine due to the lockdown imposed in view of the coronavirus outbreak.
Since April 4, the day it was constituted, it has been helping grandsons worried sick about their dadi, daughters-in-law concerned about depleting medical supplies of her in-laws and sons trying to reach out to his old parents.
The #HappytoHelp task force has reached out to over 90 elderly families with the help of police and local NGOs and provided them with food, medicines and medical assistance, National Commission for Women Chairperson Rekha Sharma said.
The NCW shared some of the cases addressed by the task force.
The first request was received by the task force from Michigan (US) of a son who was worried about depleting medicines of his mother living in Kottal in Kerala.
“The NCW got in touch with the local police who reached out to the mother and supplied her with the medicines. We also shared a photo with the son who was very happy to see the picture of his mother after a long time, and also to know the medicines been delivered,” an NCW member said.
A grandmother escaped from Mumbai to be with her friends in Yadgir in Karnataka but soon after she reached the lockdown was imposed. Her worried grandson contacted the task force and requested them to supply her with medicines.
“The officer who delivered her the medicine said that the grandmother was surprised to see them with the medicines and asked if the Karnataka Chief Minister knew she was coming and sent the medicines,” said a task force member.
In another case, a son requested the task force not just to provide medicine but also check if her mother in Tripura was consuming them. Responding, the police not only delivered her the medicine but also shared a video, where she showed her medicine box.
A daughter-in-law in Gurgaon that was very worried about her mother-in-law’s health which was getting worse. They would bring the mother to Gurgaon for regular check-up twice or thrice a year. But this lockdown was sudden and the mother’s health started getting worse. The old couple was living in Ambah in Madhya Pradesh. She requested the task force for emergency medical visit and testing. “After coordinating with the collector of Morena we were able to sort it out, they arranged a vehicle the next day to take the mother to Gwalior which is 70-75 kms away from Ambah,” a task force member said.
Speaking about the initiative, the NCW chairperson said they started to come up with it when they saw many people tweeting that they are worried about well-being of their old parents. “We thought why not we help them out. I formed a group which started working on it. Some of the people who we helped said now wherever they are they will be helping others so that was a goodwill chain system which is spreading now,” she said.
