1. Biggest challenges faced by elderly people, especially those living alone or feeling neglected?
The biggest struggles faced by the elderly people are financial insecurity from inadequate pensions, loneliness when families distance themselves, and poor access to affordable healthcare. Many are also treated as burdens rather than valued elders, and without free nursing homes or government support, they are left entirely dependent on family goodwill.
2. Why do some families distance themselves from or abandon elderly relatives?
This is mostly because of economic pressure. Without free healthcare, pensions, and nursing homes, families see elderly care as a financial burden they cannot sustain, especially the homemakers often have no pension despite a lifetime of raising the next generation. So homemakers too should get pension in their old age so the trend today of every woman working at the stake of upbringing child/ children who are the building block of a Nation; will not be there. This enables less stress in the family and thus less breakups/ divorces.
Also this seems, less a family failure than a failure of government support systems.
3. How do loneliness and being treated as a burden affect an elderly persons dignity and well-being?
It is deeply damaging both emotionally and physically. Loneliness brings depression and a loss of self-worth, while feeling like a burden erodes dignity built over a lifetime. This emotional neglect often accelerates physical decline too, creating a cycle where isolation leads to worse health, which requires even more support.
4. What difficulties do elderly people face in accessing healthcare, medicines, and financial support?
We know that without free, government-funded healthcare, many must choose between medicine and basic needs. Inadequate pensions make chronic treatment unaffordable, preventive check-ups are skipped, and essential medicines become a financial strain. This shows why healthcare, pensions, and education must all be reformed together, not separately.
5. What responsibilities should families, communities, healthcare institutions, and government share?
Government carries the primary duty: free nursing homes, free medical care, and universal pensions (including for homemakers), funded through higher, fair taxation. Families should provide love, companionship, and respect. Communities can offer social support networks, while healthcare institutions and old-age homes ensure safety and proper medical attention. These roles are interconnected: when one works well, it eases the burden on the others.
6. Do writers have a responsibility to raise awareness about elderly care? How can storytelling help?
Yes, writers also do have a real responsibility here. Stories, Poetries, writings humanize the silent suffering of abandoned elders and expose systemic failures in a way statistics cannot. Literature can show how pensions, healthcare, and nursing homes are all connected, inspire compassion, and push readers and policymakers toward real change.
7. What final message would you give families and society about caring for the elderly?
Our elders are not burden; they are the foundation of our society. Families should give love and respect, while demanding that government provide free healthcare, nursing homes, and pensions to make that care sustainable. Each of us can help by visiting elders often, valuing their wisdom, and supporting policies that fund universal elderly welfare through fair taxation. Caring for them today shapes the dignity we can expect in our own old age.
Quote : Care for the Family is care for the Nation; Authorities too need to care for the citizens !!
Promila Devi is an International Poetess and Columnist who writes on varied topics. Her wonder with words make her stand out. A Philanthropist and a Social Reformer, she is also a Polymath and a Philosopher.
