Dr Radha Murthy’s war against age

It wasn’t chance that made a crusader out of Dr Radha S Murthy. In the mid-90s, Dr Murthy’s husband fell critically ill and needed constant medical attention. “I knew a hundred doctors, but finding the right doctor at that moment of need was difficult.”

Even as a practicing physician, she found it tough to rush her husband in and out of hospitals. Moreover, this taxed the patient and his caregivers equally. He would be so much happier if he could stay at home and yet receive all the medical care he needed, she felt. This, she says, was the turning point of her life.

Even during her residency years, Dr Murthy had noticed gaping holes in our healthcare system for the elderly. Medical help seemed out of reach for those confined to their homes due to various reasons — medical and otherwise. The experience of tending to her ill husband reinforced this thought, and thus was born Nightingales Home Health Services (NHHS) in 1996, with the sole aim of serving those who needed routine or emergency medical care and services right at their homes.

It was a humble beginning. NHHS started from Dr Murthy’s garage in her home in Sadashivanagar. She took charge of the medical side, while S Premkumar Raja handled the administration. “It was just a small shed. We had one nurse and an ambulance. And the registration fee for our services was Rs125,” she says. Despite the nominal charges, people were wary about signing up. In many cases, the services were rendered first and the fees were paid later.

“Except critical cardiac cases, most other diseases can be treated at home, including those that need long-term care. Simple treatments like those for dehydration and asthma attacks, or catheterisation and nebulisation can easily be fixed up at home. Often in terminal cases, especially those in which the patient is diagnosed as incompetent for serious medical intervention such as dialysis, home health care is the only option,” she says.

This is where the NHHS comes into the picture. It offers qualified and experienced doctors, paramedics and nurses on call 24/7. It’s easy to see why NHHS became a hit soon after its launch. “If you have to keep ageing in its place, you need this kind of personalised home health care,” Dr Murthy says. “I can boldly say, ‘we’re the pioneers in this field’.”

Today, the team, which has grown to around 150 medical and paramedical personnel and has moved to a larger office in RT Nagar, tends to over 3,000 families. NHHS insists on registration, because that way, in case of an emergency, they have immediate access to the medical backgrounds of their patients. A fee of Rs2,000 covers a family of three for four years. An additional member can be added on with an extra charge of Rs500. Doorstep services provided include doctor’s visits and ECG and blood pressure check-ups, besides nursing, lab investigations, emergency care and ambulance services.

Dr Murthy and her team interact closely with the elders and their families. In the course of providing them with medical support, she realised that that wasn’t the only kind of attention they required — they had a huge need for emotional support as well. “With old age, dependence on others increases. And this in turn has elders, especially men, feeling a loss of self respect. Many of them feel the pinch of financial insecurities too. To look into these aspects, we formed the Nightingales Medical Trust (NMT) in 1998,” says Dr Murthy.

NMT is a non-governmental charitable organisation tailored to provide easily accessible, affordable services to meet the physical, emotional, economic and social requirements of the elderly. Under NMT, she kicked off a day-care centre for the elderly — a first-of-its-kind in the country. The centre has over 350 registered members and around 50 members availing the services daily, who vouch for an enriching experience at the centre.

“Nightingales gives me the sense of identity that I was seeking. I think their greatest contribution is this sense of belonging,” says Shalini Bhogle, mother of cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle.

NMT joined hands with the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to establish a similar facility for those from underprivileged backgrounds — Sandhya Kirana. Here, from mid-day meals to income generating schemes, the financially disadvantaged are provided several services for free. She also started various economic initiatives for the aged belonging to all economic classes.

Dr Murthy has an uncanny knack for spotting needs. Never one to rest on her laurels, she relentlessly discovers more ways to provide often-overlooked assistance. Another first: she started an elders’ helpline, a joint effort by NMT and Bangalore City Police. The toll-free number 1090 dedicated to help elders in distress has a team of committed social workers, counselors, legal professionals and police working behind it.

Initially, the age group that Dr Murthy’s team catered to was 65-75. But soon they were catering to the age group of 75-95 year-olds. As longevity increased, so did the medical complications that come with it. That’s when she realised that dementia was a rising worry.

This progressive brain disorder — Alzheimer’s in particular — seemed to be affecting a large number of senior citizens. At the premises of Sandhya Kirana, she set up a dementia day care centre. Their services include specialist visits, mind-stimulating memory exercises, games, yoga, rehabilitation and assistance in routine activities. An exclusive facility for dementia care by NMT, coming up in Kasturi Nagar, is nearing completion.

The government has authorised NMT to issue ID-cards to senior citizens above 60 years of age, which would guarantee them various benefits at hospitals, labs, medical stores and transport facilities. They have already issued over 50,000 cards.

Dr Murthy’s catalogue of initiatives seems endless — from mobile medicare in the rural sector and training in geriatric care to fall prevention and a rehabilitation centre. The accolades that came her way are also many. Recognised for many firsts in the field of geriatric care, she has won several international and national awards. The state has also honoured her with the Rajyotsava Puraskara.

Every day, she has over 500 senior citizens benefiting from various need-based support systems run by Nightingales. Her reward, she says, is when “people — elders and their care-givers — tell me how secure they feel under our care. When someone tells me that my father or mother is alive because of you people, that is all the reward that I need.”