Pronam – an initiative of Kolkata Police which is a game changer for elderly care

India is aging.

Well, with an average age of 28, we continue to be one of the world's youngest nations, and we are blessed with only 7% of us above 65 years of age. But as the Total Fertility Ratio (TFR) inching below the replacement rate of 2.1, it is not far that we will have a significant aged population to support.

Now geriatric care is a huge area, and I think as a country we have not invested enough thought to think about it. Well, the reasons are not hard to find – we are a young nation, and we have limited resources to cater to even the present. But this is an area we can ill afford to ignore.

I see a lot of elite old age homes coming up on the Metros, as well there are organizations that are catering to the needs of the senior citizens who live alone. This helps, especially the ones who can afford it, but they are a miniscule minority. What happens (or will happen) to the humungous majority who are financially challenged even when they are in the working age?

Society is increasingly becoming nuclear, and so is the steady decrease in the expectations that children will take care of their parents. Let’s add to it the ability of the progeny, even if they have the best of intentions. And we have not even started talking about all the health ills that we are accumulating among the young (spurious drugs, rampant consumption of antibiotics for quick relief, illegal blood and organ markets, hazardous working conditions, nutrient deficiency – just to name a few), and we can only imagine what the situation will be a few decades from now.

The government has to step in. And this can’t happen overnight. It needs to start today to build and roll out cheap, robust, and scalable “elder care” models so that we are ready when we need them the most.

This is in this context I found the Pronam (https://pronam.in/) scheme started by the Kolkata Police very interesting.

As we all know, the city is the abode of a significant number of elderly who stay alone. While there are significant civic and family support ecosystems to help most of them, almost all of them face the risk of unforeseen security threats.

With the increasing isolation of families in the social context given the rise of nuclear families, the neighborly ecosystem is on the decline. Also, the digitization of the economy and increasing service delivered at home make contact with unknown people a daily routine.

Needless to say, this makes all of us, but particularly the senior citizens living on our own, vulnerable to being taken advantage of. And this is something we felt that the Police Department can play a role, over and above the work they are already doing. And that is where Pronam steps in.

The process is very simple.

1.       Registration for the people to be covered under the scheme with the following conditions:

ü  Above the age of sixty

ü  Living alone

ü  An India Citizen

ü  Residing within the Jurisdiction of the Kolkata Police

2.       The Police personnel from the local Police Station make a and check the details. Also, verify their details with the nearest family member(s).

A periodic check on the status of the registered members.

Kolkata Police and the state of Bengal will not bear any financial expenses or provide any financial assistance directly or indirectly to any Pronam Member. But the support, and more than that the promise of getting the support when needed is invaluable.

I have enrolled in this program for my parents, and it works very well. As you very well know, apart from giving a sense of security to many, this also builds a very humane image of the Police force, which encourages common people to reach the people in uniform without any hesitation.