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Technology and tender care must go hand in hand.

Mohan Murti

She is a precious lady... Worked years to raise nine children with her husband working across seas. She gave her children solid values, she coped with two world wars, lost four of her children. Now, in an Indian nursing home, she is lying on her back full of bedsores. Misses her children and grandchildren. And, she hardly gets any visits from them. Is life supposed to end in such a tragedy?

During my last trip to India, I took substantial time off to visit three old-age nursing homes — in Santa Cruz West, Mumbai; Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore; and, in Kilpauk, Chennai. It is the stench that almost knocked me out at first. Naturally, as most of the patients were all incontinent. The other component of the smell is catabolism, the decay of living tissue.

Patients, without exception, had bedsores. In the tropical heat with power shut-downs and no ventilation, they were literally decaying, alive! It was shocking to find that all the three nursing homes were profit-making institutions. The management’s primary concern was billing the patients for paying off the investor loan and, not caring for the patient. As a result, those employed were miserable unskilled labour, under-paid and over-worked.

In contrast, older people in Europe are finding themselves the focus of an array of gadgets and computer monitoring systems as technology is increasingly used to provide healthcare services to help people stay independent for as long as possible. I recently visited Accenture’s facilities in one of Europe’s leading science and technology parks, in Sophia Antipolis, France. They are carrying out R&D in Intelligent Device Integration, Analytics and, Human-Computer Interaction System Integration.

For example, the lab is testing the use of cameras which track the movement of a person around their home. With falls being one of the leading causes of injury for the elderly, the idea is that the system will be able to spot an accident and, if necessary, call for assistance. An amazing trial I witnessed is the “connective table” which used camera sensors and video projectors to create interaction with family members or care givers. Yet another mind-boggling invention was the RFID-equipped online medicine cabinet, which can warn its users if they have picked out the wrong medication.

Europe is full of innovative technologies for the aged. Longevity doesn’t come cheaply, and developing technology is one piece of a very complicated puzzle. But, Europe has managed the ageing problem, very well.

I find that the technology is the easy part. There are so many solutions chasing the problem of aging. But, what we lack in India and around the developing world are comprehensive policies by governments and strategies by business to implement the solutions that are available.

Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Germany’s elderly have felt the pinch of welfare cuts. More than a third of the German population will be over 60 by the year 2050.The number of senior citizens in Germany is growing all the time — and Germans are also living longer.

In less than 50 years’ time, 12 per cent of the population will be over 80, and scientists estimate that by the year 2050, the life expectancy of the average German will have increased by a decade. So what is life like for Germany’s ever-expanding ranks of senior citizens?

Bildunterschrift (Quality care): Living to a ripe-old age is rewarded with state-assured, quality of life-care. Older people are taken care of well, kept active and entertained.

There are many activities on offer; music therapy, cooking groups, ferry trips, and many more things to keep seniors stimulated and happy. These programmes are obligatory if a home for the aged want to receive state subsidies. Many in Germany complain that while the rest of the country is tightening its belt, old people have never had it so good. The majority of people between 60 and 80 have a lot of money at their disposal. I see it in our closer circle of friends. They buy new cars, and have more than one, own real estate, and take luxurious vacations.

Members of the older generation in Germany are looking at new models of living for their retirement years. They want security, comfort and social contacts. They don’t want a nursing home. Senior flat shares fit that bill.

The senior flat share provide privacy and independence which are important to older people.

There are at least 200 similar experiments in senior living across Germany as the older generation rethinks how they want to live out their sunset years and more are popping up all the time.

In the modelling industry, youth is everything. But as Germany’s population ages, advertisers are increasingly using older models to tap into a target group with money to spend — seniors.

Corporations are starting to target their advertising campaigns at the population segment that now has the greatest economic power in Germany — senior citizens.

In European countries where about one in five unborn children is aborted, there are loud demands for euthanasia for those with dementia who refuse to die.

In the Netherlands, where euthanasia has been practised for many years, such demands are becoming increasingly common.

What has happened in the Netherlands is a gradual change of standards. It started with euthanasia on request in the case of terminal illness and unbearable physical suffering.

Then, as time went by, matters gradually changed. Non-voluntary euthanasia became more and more acceptable. In the Netherlands today, even a physically healthy but depressed person could request and be granted euthanasia. Euthanasia could be declared legal in other countries such as Germany, Belgium and France.

How a society treats its elderly people is a benchmark of its civilisation. The edict seems a dulled weapon to counter the effects of societal kaput, value squalor, lack of respect for elders and, deficient solidarity within the family.

That said, I think I prefer healthy ageing. At least, you can fight your corner for longer in the fourth stage of an ascetic — the last ‘Ashrama’, with no desire for name, fame or recognition.

More Stories on : Social Security | Euroscape

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