The government implements the policies and programmes for the elderly in close collaboration with non-governmental and civil society organisations. The national policy envisages apex associations of older persons as a partner to the State. The All India Senior Citizens’ Confederation is one such organisation. Several NGOs are actively involved in planning as well as grassroots implementation to improve the quality of life of older persons. Some of them are also involved in providing long-term care components.

Table 3.2 shows private/ non-government organisations offering long-term care.

Name of organisation	Services/programmes offered	Capacity of the services
Nightingale Medical Trust	Day care, institutional care and medical assistance to homebound older persons.	98 bed respite care, 48 bed Kolar, day-care catering to 50 people with dementia everyday (each in the Bangalore and Hyderabad chapters).
Apollo Group of Hospitals	Home care services, formal caregivers	No specific data available.
Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Society of India (ARDSI)	Institutions and day carers.	22 active chapters across the country.
Max Group of Hospitals	Home health-care programme in Delhi.	No specific data available.
Sama Nursing Home in Delhi	Long-term medical and nursing interventions.	No specific data available.
NIKISA Dementia Village	Dementia village and Alzheimer’s Hospital.	A 50-bedded dementia speciality facility.

Source: (UNESCAP, 2016; Nikisa Dementia Village, n.d.; Nightingales Medical Trust, n.d.)

Note: Please refer to Part 7 for a larger list of available services.

Most of the listed organisations, except ARDSI, come at a considerable cost and prioritise post-acute care over long-term care. Long-term care in the private sector is less affordable, and older patients are generally discharged from hospitals early, often before adequate recovery. The public sector and the non-profit institutes appear not to be under so much pressure to discharge patients, and this incentivises older patients to access these facilities if they are able to afford it (UNESCAP, 2016). Inadequate housing conditions, lack of financial support, and lack of skilled caregivers are other problems associated with private care homes (Bhattacharya & Chatterjee, 2017).

There are several other organizations involved in providing hospice and palliative care services for cancer. A great number of such centres are concentrated in the state of Kerala. In 2008, Kerala was the first state in India to launch a palliative care policy (Khosla, Patel and Sharma, 2012). CanSupport in Kerala (Gupta, 2004), the Guwahati Pain and Palliative Care Society (GPPCS) in Assam, Karunashraya Bangalore Hospice Trust, and the Chandigarh Palliative Care service provide comprehensive, home-based cancer care (Khosla, Patel and Sharma, 2012). Similar models of care for older persons have not been reported.

References:

Bhattacharya, T. and Chatterjee, S. C. (2017). Exploring elder care in different settings in West Bengal: a psycho-social study of private homes, hospitals and long-term care facilities. International Journal of Psychological & Behavioural Sciences, 11(6), 1639-44. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1131896

Gupta, H. (2004). A journey from cancer to’CanSupport’. Indian Journal of Palliative Care, 10(1), 32.

Khosla, D., Patel, F. D., & Sharma, S. C. (2012). Palliative care in India: current progress and future needs. Indian Journal of Palliative Care, 18(3), 149–154.

Nightingales Medical Trust (n.d.). Home page. Available from: https://www.nightingaleseldercare.com/

Nikisa Dementia Villiage. (n.d). Home Page.  Available from: https://carefordementia.in/

UNESCAP. (2016). Long-term Care of Older Persons in India. Available from: https://www.unescap.org/resources/long-term-care-older-persons-india