At times, it seems that it is easier to go to the moon than finding National Standards for Elderly Care Homes in India.
1700 odd senior citizen care homes (NGO, Govt & Private) are being run mostly without any National Standards.
Central Government supported 551 in FY 20-21 under the Atal Vayo Abhyuday Yojna (AVYAY) but unfortunately the level of service delivery standards is something debatable.
Since there are no detailed and/or specific building code for senior citizen homes hence most of them have been and are being constructed as per the intellectual capabilities of the architects.
Since there is very limited information related to the licensing and registration of Senior Citizen Care Homes (Old Age Homes) hence many homes are operating under guest houses, hostels, nursing homes etc or are not registered.
Social welfare including elderly care is a state subject, due to which there is fragmented growth of the sector. Some state governments have been active but then as a country, we are a far cry from being socially developed w.r.t. aged care.
Tamil Nadu government had published a revised version of minimum standards for Old Age Homes in 2016, which is attached. Unfortunately the document was formatted in such a manner that it was a task for me to correct it and share it on public domain.
If India wants to be seen as an Elder friendly Nation, then we need to put in capital and intellectual resources to catch-up with the developed countries.
It is high time that concerned stakeholders take note of this burgeoning problem otherwise the country will have a big task to sort out the mess in the coming years.
The document Essential Standards for Old Age Homes – Tamil Nadu Govt can be downloaded here or can be accessed below