Bestow special care upon the elders during COVID 19, Governor urges

Hyderabad, Aug 1: Governor Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan has called for bestowing special care upon the elders during the Covid-19 conditions.

 “They took care of us with a lot of affection and love. It is now our responsibility to serve them with special care   and attention to enable them to cope  up with the pandemic conditions,” she added.

Participating as the chief guest at the semiannual virtual summit of the Metropolitan Asian Family Services (MAFS), Chicago, USA, from the Raj Bhavan, here, she stated that with the co-morbid conditions, elders are at a  greater risk and we all need to give them special attention and care for their protection.

Terming the senior citizens as our treasure houses of knowledge and wisdom, the Governor called for creation of decent and dignified living conditions for them.

“We need to listen to them, not because they are aged and are always right, but because they have successfully came over many difficult situation in the past  and have the rich experience ,” Dr. Soundararajan added.

Referring to some instances, where the senior citizens are kept away from families in the misconstrued practice of social distance, the Governor advised against any such social isolation of elders.

Stressing on the need to create better understanding about the Covid-19 and the pandemic conditions among the senior citizens, she said that this would help them to come out of  depression and face it with a right approach.

“It is high time that we shall extend better medical care, communication, motivation and psychological and emotional support to our elders,” she exhorted the people.

Dr. Soundararajan also called for increased importance to geriatric studies and care on a par with paediatric care so as to give better care to the elders in their twilight years.

The Governor appreciated the efforts of MAFS founder Ms Santosh Kumar for her dedicated service to the elders in the USA for the past 28 years.

The US Congressman Danny K Devis, MAFS president Firdaus Jafri, Sher-e-Kashmir Agricultural Science and Technology vice-chancellor Prof. J P Sharma, Dr. Vijay Prabhakar, Dr. Srinivas Reddy and others spoke during the virtual summit.