For Mumbai’s dementia patients, diagnosis is only the beginning
As Mumbai's elderly population grows, families are struggling to find affordable, long-term care for relatives diagnosed with dementia. While public facilities like KEM Hospital offer specialized diagnostic services, there is a significant gap in the availability of ongoing, multidisciplinary support for patients and their caregivers.
Why it matters
The article highlights a critical public health challenge in urban India, where the lack of accessible post-diagnosis care systems threatens to overwhelm families as dementia prevalence rises among the aging population.
“Are you hungry?” “Do you want some water?” “Are you in pain?”
The questions were simple. The answers were not.
Sometimes the 87-year-old woman replied only with a faint “hmm,” her gaze fixed on one spot. Other times, she talked and carried on as usual. Getting a response could take several attempts.
In 2024, she was brought to Mumbai after a fall in her washroom, and her family's attention was on her injury. No one saw a pattern at first.
As the family began noticing these episodes — the lack of response, the fixed gaze and, occasionally, unfamiliar names called out — they sought medical advice. She was subsequently diagnosed with dementia.
For Itishree, a Mumbai resident, the diagnosis of her husband's grandmother settled one question and raised another for the whole family: how do you care for someone with dementia when you have never done it before?
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