There is no doubt that the Eldercare sector in growing leaps and bounds in India, but then the larger question is, how many founders who have surprisingly become the voice and face of the industry are actually qualified or educated in the field of Aged Care (myself included)?
Fortunately or unfortunately, Elderly Care is not rocket science, so anyone and everyone can become a subject matter expert without knowing anything about the subject, but then that's the best thing about India. No wonder the boom of Mom and Pop stores offering Senior Care services.
The truth of the matter is, today we have the private sector service providers defining the roadmap for the country, simply because it's convenient for the policymakers to have an arrangement with them, but then, the question is what happens to the poor, destitute and underprivileged older people especially those who can't afford private sector care?
In my opinion the Old Age Care sector is going through a major transition, the big corporates with big funding might find the lake dry, not because there is no water, but because their objectives to make money which is beyond the capacity of affordability will become unaffordable in the next few years for the middle class.
Old Age Care in India has to be seen with a different telescope, not because older people don't have money, simply because the need for National Standards and Guidelines is more important as of yesterday, otherwise we as a country will grow but without any definitive and actionable road map.
Until and unless the top management of the Aged Care do not understand the importance and implications of the concerned legislative ACTs for Eldercare till then the grassroots level workers will not understand their job profile, accountability and side effects of the service delivery.
Pankaj Mehrotra
