KOCHI: Though Kerala has advanced in palliative care compared to other states in India, information on the services available in the state are not collected and listed for the public. As many peple are suffering due to the inability to access the facilities, Swaruma Charitable Society, based at Kanjirappally, has started a portal with complete information on all the homes and services related to elderly care.
One of the founder-members of Swaruma, Zacharias Njavally, said even people living just 100 metres away from a geriatric home find it difficult to locate the centre. “There are facilities and services in Kerala, but we do not have a collated data of all the services and that is why we decided to take it up as a project titled Lovelderly.com,” he said.
Though not fully established yet, the portal has covered all the establishments and services under the government sector and made a soft launch on October 30. The user-friendly portal aims at giving all the information regarding the services in Ernakulam, Kottayam and Alappuzha districts. The founders claim that this is the first palliative-dedicated listing portal in the state.
Since palliative needs are increasing these days, there is a need for a dedicated portal that helps choose the most adequate service and location. Currently information on 2,000 websites are listed on Lovelderly.com. Information on the geriatric care homes, hospices, Alzheimer’s centres, home nursing agencies, pain management facilities etc. are available on the website.
“The portal has been conceived from the belief that the elderly, bedridden and physically challenged have the right to live a quality life like any others. This digital platform is to cater to their needs by providing reliable and regularly updated information. We ensure that these services are within reach and available in the immediate locality,” added Zacharias.