Noida's heart-wrenching horror: Surprise inspection at old age home reveals harsh realities of twilight years — locked, lonely, forgotten

NOIDA: His voice is feeble, his gait unsteady. But instead of love, care and support from family, what 80-year-old MG Singh (name changed) has found himself in is an alien, inhospitable environment, a locked room, and biting loneliness.Singh feels like he is a prisoner. But without a house where he is welcome to live, he has lived within the confines of this ‘prison' for years. "I often feel dizzy. They give me biscuits and glucose and keep me locked in a room," Singh told TOI on Friday morning as govt officers scanned the premises after an inspection by the UP women's commission revealed a sordid state of affairs at the privately run home."When I first came here, they used to give eggs and butter.

Now they don't give such things. That has caused my dizziness and made me weak," he added.

Singh, who prefixed a ‘Dr' to his name and identified himself as a former general practitioner at a medical college in Gujarat, was taken away by his niece, who is based in Gurgaon. "They cannot uproot somebody from their home where they're staying without letting their local guardian know," the niece told TOI. "He was throwing water on electric equipment.

He once set this old-age home on fire. I thank the home for keeping him here," she said.Staff at the centre didn't deny using restraints, saying he sometimes tried to set things on fire. A caretaker of the home said inmates were tied "on instructions from their family members".Several of the inmates have mental health conditions that require regular medical supervision and support. But at Anand Niketan, there's none.

The centre is run by 10 severely underpaid caretakers, five each in the morning and evening shifts. They have no medical training. Some of them have only completed school.But not every inmate was complaining, perhaps because the reality beyond the perimeters of Anand Niketan was more daunting. "We are fine here. We get food on time. In fact, I haven't been able to sleep because of all this chaos since Thursday night," an elderly woman told this correspondent, clearly cross with questions about her wellbeing.A woman from Kerala was among the three inmates who were moved out of Anand Niketan to a govt shelter in Dankaur because of failing health. She could give no information about herself other than her name. Her prescriptions from a private hospital in Noida revealed her full name and age (69). The prescription mentioned hyperthyroidism and said she is prone to delusions. An octogenarian inmate who was shifted out could not communicate with anyone because he cannot hear.

A caretaker told TOI they were instructed to restrain the inmates as it was "the only option to keep them sane" because of the mental health problems they have. "If we didn't do this, things would get out of hand," the caretakers said, admitting the old age home is crippled by severe understaffing. "We work 12-hour shifts, seven days a week, earning just Rs 6,000 monthly," said the caretaker.