Lack of nursing care in smaller cities alarming
Times of Bennett | Updated: Apr 24, 2021 02:25
By NANDINI SACHDEV
KANPUR: Families in smaller towns are finding it increasingly difficult to find paramedical assistance. The increasing dependence of the older population on paramedical workers has raised the demand for more skilled people.
“As people grow old, they begin start facing health problems and their overall body activity starts deteriorating. As their bones become weaker, simple tasks like walking becomes difficult. The elderly and the infants are the same because both need similar care and vigilance,” says Group Captain AlkaSrivastava , a medical officer with the Indian Air Force .
Not everyone can give proper attention to the elderly so they resort to home nursing services which help the family in dealing with the health issues of their elderly kin in a professional manner.
“The need for paramedical assistance is not limited to old-age people. It is also required by people suffering from trauma, psychological disorders and others,” saysSrivastava . She was posted to Kanpur in 2019 along with her doctor husband. Other members of the family include her son, who is in senior secondary school, her daughter, who is a fresher in college, and her mother Narinder Kumari Veer, who is 78 years old.
The family has been looking for a nurse for the post-operation recovery of Veer. “Finding these services in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru were way easier than in places like Kanpur and Bareilly,” Srivastava said. Recently, her mother went into surgery in Lucknow for a vascular issue. Post-surgery periods require more and delicate care which brings stress on families. “Previously in such situations, we could call a nurse to take care of my mother while I was in office and my maid has a lot on her plate as well,” said Srivastava.
“In Kanpur, it's hard to find trained nurses as there is either the issue of time or the location or sometimes afemale attendant is not available,” she said.
The family is still looking for an attendant despite it being more than two months. Several families today need such services to look after their elderly.
In India, there are agencies that provide nursing assistance but that varies from place to place. Some of these agencies teach their employees nursing skills on how they are supposed to handle situations with old people who are in pain or are unwell.
“Most nurses turn down the job offer because of the location of the client. Many people turn it down since it's not feasible to travel to the destination. In some cases, the attendants are young, so people doubt their skills. It's easy to find male attendants as they have flexible hours. As for female attendants, time is a restriction. Some agencies cannot provide the specialised personnel trained for the conditions of the patient that demand challenging care. Approximately 70 per cent paramedics in the country are not trained for the jobs they do,” says Captain Singh Sherawat, general secretary of the Joint Forum of Medical Technologists of India (JFMTI), an umbrella body.
Nursing assistant agencies can be found onGoogle sites like care24, Portea, Carinx and other such agencies have their contact pages online. But for places where such services are not available applications like ‘Justdial’ can be used for local search.
(The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of TheTimes School of Media .)
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KANPUR: Families in smaller towns are finding it increasingly difficult to find paramedical assistance. The increasing dependence of the older population on paramedical workers has raised the demand for more skilled people.
“As people grow old, they begin start facing health problems and their overall body activity starts deteriorating. As their bones become weaker, simple tasks like walking becomes difficult. The elderly and the infants are the same because both need similar care and vigilance,” says Group Captain Alka
Not everyone can give proper attention to the elderly so they resort to home nursing services which help the family in dealing with the health issues of their elderly kin in a professional manner.
“The need for paramedical assistance is not limited to old-age people. It is also required by people suffering from trauma, psychological disorders and others,” says
The family has been looking for a nurse for the post-operation recovery of Veer. “Finding these services in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru were way easier than in places like Kanpur and Bareilly,” Srivastava said. Recently, her mother went into surgery in Lucknow for a vascular issue. Post-surgery periods require more and delicate care which brings stress on families. “Previously in such situations, we could call a nurse to take care of my mother while I was in office and my maid has a lot on her plate as well,” said Srivastava.
“In Kanpur, it's hard to find trained nurses as there is either the issue of time or the location or sometimes a
The family is still looking for an attendant despite it being more than two months. Several families today need such services to look after their elderly.
In India, there are agencies that provide nursing assistance but that varies from place to place. Some of these agencies teach their employees nursing skills on how they are supposed to handle situations with old people who are in pain or are unwell.
“Most nurses turn down the job offer because of the location of the client. Many people turn it down since it's not feasible to travel to the destination. In some cases, the attendants are young, so people doubt their skills. It's easy to find male attendants as they have flexible hours. As for female attendants, time is a restriction. Some agencies cannot provide the specialised personnel trained for the conditions of the patient that demand challenging care. Approximately 70 per cent paramedics in the country are not trained for the jobs they do,” says Captain Singh Sherawat, general secretary of the Joint Forum of Medical Technologists of India (JFMTI), an umbrella body.
Nursing assistant agencies can be found on
(The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The
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