Physically absent but mentally present: Concerned NRI's purchasing Health Care packages for their parents back at home

25 December, 2013

NRIs working abroad are always worried about the health and well-being of their aged parents who are all alone in India. Improved medical facilities have definitely helped in prolonging the lives of our parents and aged relatives but the question that arises is that are they really able to enjoy the golden years of their lives?

Most experts from the medical field are of the opinion that people while they didn’t live longer a 20-30 years back generally enjoyed better health. Obviously, even a couple of decades back factors like work related stress, environmental pollution and a lack of organic diet (free of harmful pesticides) weren’t a factor.

The ageing population of India is becoming increasing vulnerable to such chronic ailments like diabetes and heart diseases, which would shorten their lives and boost medical costs - something which most NRI’s living abroad and away from their parents worry about.

Rajat Batra, a successful software engineer living in Canada feels that by his step to move abroad has made it quite difficult for him to keep an eye on his parent’s health. “My dad suffers from diabetes. When I was in India, I ensured that he took his medicines on time and went for regular check-ups.” However, after moving to Canada, he being only son finds it quite difficult to convince his father to go for regular tests.

NRIs' concerns for their parents motivated two young NIT graduates to come up with some solution. They founded a firm namely UberHealth to come up with a viable solutions by offering at home healthcare checkup packages for the elderly.

Preventive healthcare checkups in Delhi while being offered by most leading hospitals are pricey and have to be actively pursued i.e. the person needs to visit the facility himself and be available for said check-ups.

What NRI’s in Delhi are rooting for are robust door to door health care services, which would mean their parents wouldn’t be forced to go to the hospitals and wait for hours for routine check-ups. Instead doctors and specialists would visit them at their place and conduct the tests there.

According to Ishan Jha, the co-founder of UberHealth, that’s where their services come in. Their medical check-up packages for senior citizens are geared towards completely nullifying the time and stress borne by the aged whenever tests and check-ups come into the picture.

The company by tying up with leading medical facilities and renowned test centres like Lal Path Labs are offering at home medical check-up packages for senior citizens - a service which has generated a lot of interest in the international community.

Of course, such services demand the active involvement of the children and their responsibility doesn’t just end with making the payment. Unlike the preventive healthcare packages offered by hospitals, the services of UberHealth go beyond just conducting check-ups.

Ishan elaborates, “Our in-house specialists further study the medical reports generated by hospitals and test centres to verify their accuracy. Through regular online consultations, we enable our clients (NRIs settled abroad) better understand these reports and take suitable precautionary measures.”

It’s definitely a service which makes sense for every NRI with aged parents in India.