NEW DEHLI (UCAN): The Supreme Court of India has directed the federal government to take steps to ensure that senior citizens are well taken care of during the Covid-19 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic.
In its directions on August 4 the court said the elderly should be regularly paid pensions and given medicines, masks, sanitisers and other essential goods in the wake of the coronavirus.
“As we all know that children and senior citizens are vulnerable to disease as they have less immunity, the highest court’s directive is well appreciated,” Father Julius Amla, secretary of the Indian Catholic Bishops’ Conference’s office of health, said.
“How and when this order will be implemented is a big question because many times, due to manpower or other logistics, a scheme remains only on paper or too little is done,” Father Amla noted.
“Generally, many people don’t pay much attention to our senior citizens due to negligence or other issues, so when the world is fighting this pandemic, the Supreme Court’s directive is the need of the hour,” he said.
The Supreme Court was responding to a plea made by former federal minister, Ashwani Kumar, and senior advocate, Sanjeeb Panigrahi, in July.
Kumar sought directions with regard to senior citizens, saying they needed more care and protection during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The court said it recognised the obligation of the government to protect the elderly who live alone and ensure essential goods and services are provided to them.
It also directed the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to make sure that pensions continued to be paid to senior citizens on time.
Delivering the direction, the justices, Ashok Bhushan and R. Subhash Reddy, said at a time of the pandemic senior citizens should be given priority in admissions to government hospitals.
“In the event of any complaint, the hospital administration must take immediate steps to remedy their grievances,” the judges said.
In a December 2018 verdict, the Supreme Court said the statutory rights of over 100,000 million senior citizens in India must be recognised and implemented.
It said the federal government must obtain information from all states and union territories about the number of homes for the elderly and also suggested a re-examination of the pension scheme.
The court emphasised that the state is obligated to ensure that the rights to live with dignity, shelter and health of citizens, including the elderly, are not only protected but enforced.
“Those who are in old age homes are well taken care of, but what about senior citizens living with their families and even alone? I hope they are taken care of by the authorities,” Bhopinder Singh, president of Aashirwad Old Age Home in East Delhi, said.
“Often they are left alone by their families and authorities to take care of themselves and risk their lives. That is the reality and a very unfortunate thing to happen,” Singh said.
According to the United Nations Population Fund, India’s population in 2019 stood at 1.36 billion, with six per cent of the population aged 65 and above.
As of August 11, Worldometers reported that India tallied 2.26 million Covid-19 cases—640,160 of which are active, 45,353 deaths and 1.58 million recoveries.
