Made in India: Low-cost care for ailing parents

Noodle

Maybe for many people it's not a realistic option. But for some people it might be. This can only be decided individually and obviously several factors have to be just right. I don't see any harm in presenting a potential possibility such as this to the broad public. Some people might be inspired and able to improve the lifes of their elderly parents in this or a similar way.

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Nick-H

Even being able to afford the air tickets to visit regularly, if not resident in India, is quite difficult.

Its bad enough in UK, where all this stuff is not free either; I just can't comprehend the huge costs faced in USA. Crazy country you people have there! .

As to being 'judged' --- well, people used to condemn others for even putting aged parents in a nursing home rather than looking after them themselves. Different people, different morals; even more 'moral' expectations of others!

But, above all, to me it seams to be a plausible answer only for the highly adventurous --- or the unconscious.

Cases against (and closures of) UK homes for abuse and neglect are not unknown. I'd feel uncomfortable about an elderly relative being 5,000 miles away, where my checks and visits could be, at best, several months apart.

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dzibead

If I had proposed this to either of my aged parents, my problems of how I would care for them would have been solved instantly because they both would have dropped dead of a heart attack on the spot. In fact, that would have been the reaction if I'd proposed sending them off the Canada, or Guatemala, or England, or ... anywhere, actually.

"Aging in place" is a concept that is increasingly supported in the U.S., at least by a lot of local government and social service agencies (see, e.g., Senior Resource for Aging in Place) and I'm sure it's a much more realistic and palatable solution for most people than "outsourcing" the infirm elderly, which strikes me as a bit of a gimmick.

In response to my comment, above, that what is really needed is a radical change in U.S. economic and social policy, YogaGal said, "and that radical change in the economic and health-care system of in the US is going to happen when?" Well, possibly when hell freezes over, which is approximately the same time it will become feasible and/or desirable for most people to "outsource" the care of their aged parents to India.

Nick-H

It may be cheap to a middle-class American, but I see people here in India ruined by the cost of health care for elderly relatives.

capt_mahajan

(crossposted with nick)

Okay, if you look at all this from an Indian context, or the point of view of a middle class urban Indian..

-Healthcare can be very expensive. For eg, here in Hyderabad, a 24 hour part-trained (not a nurse) home attendant can set you back 8000 rupees a month, Similarly in Delhi. If you add cost of medicines and doctors for a sick elderly person, this can really escalate.

-I can't think of a single hospice that I have seen or heard of (admittedly not so many) that I would have thought of admitting my parents into.

-Doctors etc for many degenerative diseases .. including Alzheimers and Parkinson's mentioned in the OP.. would be not too satisfactory outside the top five or six cities in India. For eg, I know somebody in Goa with Parkinson's who's doctor is in Mumbai.

-There is a world of difference between medical care available in smaller town USA (as an example) and that available in smaller town India. Not so easily appreciated by many, I guess.

edit and addition: And I dread to think what the touts and the scammers will try to do to an elderly sick foreigner with Alzheimers, without some friend/family checking almost daily on them.

Darryl

Perhaps there would be too many difficulties for the ailing aged to be "outsourced"in this way. I, myself, was thinking more of able bodied and healthy retirees - that would seem more feasible at first glance.

Australia has a reciprocal arrangement with certain countries regarding the payment of pensions - with places like Greece, Italy and Turkey for instance - reflecting the ethnic background of our migrants and the fact that many of them may wish to spend their final days in the old country.

Their Australian pensions are still paid. I'm not sure but think that any Australian deciding to retire to these places would be entitled to receive pension - I'm not absolutely certain.

Anyway, if this type of arrangement was organised and extended between all governments then retirees could live in India.

Perhaps it wouldn't be ethical - I really haven't thought that deeply about consequences. Superficially, at least, it would seem to be an opportunity to redistribute the world's income, though whether the people most needing it would get it is another question....

Nick-H

I think pensions due from a country will still be paid by that country: I certainly expect to get mine from UK in a few years time, if there is anything left by then.

Retirees in India, generally? See the comments on buying property there. Not wanted; not welcome.

And here's a snippet from a recent London High Commission press release on foreigners and property in India, but perhaps also relevant here:

Noodle

I only know of a case within Europe where a pensioner moved from Germany to Spain, but still needs to be registered in Germany in order to receive his pension (which is also only sent to a German bank). And in order to register you need an address. (He solved the problem by 'officially' living with relatives in Germany and registering at their address.) So, it's not all that straightforward. But in the UK you don't need to be registered with the police anyway, so it might be different there.

Sama

some small towns in the US don't even have doctors, capt. small towns have been known to advertise far and wide for nurse-practitioners let alone doctors. People forget that America is a country made up of small towns with (sometimes) hundreds of miles between them.

as for those social service and government agencies for seniors that dzibead mentions, many times they don't exist in small towns, and many are dependent on federal or local government $$$$. There are no guarantees that those agencies will exist from year to year because of funding cutbacks. I know in my area social service agencies had drastic cutbacks this year.

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capt_mahajan

I meant many smaller towns in India , beyond the top six to ten. There are a few exceptions, of course. And India had 35 cities with a population of more than one million, if I recall right, in 2001.

The corollary is that in these larger cities with better medical care, stuff is expensive.

lotus blossom

a couple of times my parents have threatened to disown me to india (they do not understand my relationship with her) but if i ever proposed sending them there to live out their final days they'd disown me for sure.

while i can see the monetary value of this idea, i do think that, as dzibead says, that there is an importance of aging (and dying) in place. i've done hospice work, and i think that one of the most crucial aspects of the dying process is being comfortable with our surroundings. i can imagine that only a nomad would be ok to just lie down and die wherever they may be. but many of us are attached to place.

again, my issue with this is "outsourcing", and one's own parent's for crying-out-loud. it doesn't feel like the right thing to do, unless the child of said parents has a stake in the place their parents are being outsourced to. so, maybe some on this forum would happily go and live in india to help take care of their aging parents. but for a novice, i think that would be a real challenge.

when i think of retiring in a third world country to make my $$ go further, i envision being of able body and mind versus going to be shunted into a nursing home. that sounds tough.

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Sama

some people I know who did India in the '70s more than a few times have given up about living there in their old age. They're planning on Costa Rica or Belize now!

I already know I don't want to be in my locale 20 years from now or even 10 years from now....too damn cold!

ALPHABAR

two stories from a couple of years ago regarding the regimes at uk care homes...

case 1

no more soft boiled eggs for beakfast. because of the "danger" of salmonella.as we know - the elderly can attach great importance to having a small pleasure like a soft boiled egg for breakfast.

case 2

local WI (womens institute) had a tradition of baking cakes free of charge for a local care home. they were stopped from doing this for "health and safety" reasons. (kitchens have to be "approved" apparently and private kitchens at WI members homes cannot be "approved")

i think i'd prefer india.

Nick-H

I think you had better look much farther and much deeper before you let a couple of trivial negatives decide you on India!

ALPHABAR

irony obviously doesn't work here.

my apologies for trying to lighten up the thread with what i thought were quite poignant examples of the level to which care has become "uncare".

seriously though - if i read engish newspapers any more (which i don't - too depressing) i'm sure i could come up with a whole raft of less trivial reasons why alternatives to ukcareplc have to be looked at.