Dr Mahalaxmi Iyer’s eldercare home-cum-hospital on the outskirts of Mumbai is a one-of-a-kind facility, where silvers can check in and stay indefinitely, reports Sahil Jaswal

 
While most people save up for retirement, a house or even a rainy day, Dr Mahalaxmi Iyer had other ideas. This gutsy doctor sold her home, used up her life savings and took a hefty loan to set up a facility where silvers could live on the premises while receiving medical treatment, round the clock.

This is not just an eldercare home with a doctor on call. Located in Vasind on the outskirts of Mumbai, Balaji Healthcare is a one-of-a-kind, 100-bed multispecialty hospital for elders. It offers medical treatment to seniors while inviting them to spend the rest of their lives in luxury.

“With old age come disease, ailments, fractures and so much more. So it is imperative that a senior care home has the resources to tackle such problems, as these problems are now an indefinite part of their lives,” says Dr Mahalaxmi Iyer, founder of Balaji Healthcare. The 20,000-sq-ft facility, nestling amid fields near Bhatsa River, is enveloped in an air of calm. Happy smiles and heart-warming conversations confirm that this is an eldercare home with a difference. Shamsheera Jussa, 80, a huge fan of John Grisham novels, was admitted here for congestive cardiac failure five years ago but stayed on after her Achilles tendon ruptured. As her son and daughter live overseas and she lived alone in suburban Mira Road, Jussa moved into Balaji as she felt more secure at the facility.

V Jaya, 82, also known as the unofficial mood-lifter of the home, is partially paralysed. She whizzes up to us in an electronic wheelchair and dreams of taking the other residents out to show them the beauty of Vasind in a wheelchair-accessible vehicle.

Jyotsana, 70, a former kindergarten teacher from Delhi, came here two years ago. Arriving in a wheelchair and weighing a meagre 28 kg, she suffered from depression and hypothyroidism. Now, she is the picture of optimism. “My condition was deteriorating rapidly before I came to Balaji,” she says with a smile. “But with Dr Iyer available at just a moment’s notice, I have recovered considerably.”

Most of the residents at Balaji Healthcare are afflicted with chronic health conditions that are difficult to manage on their own. With their better halves either deceased or themselves ailing, or their children settled with their own families, many of them overseas, Balaji Healthcare has given these seniors an alternative home, a surrogate family and, most important, medical care.

Dr Iyer gives us an idea of what it costs to live here. A bed in the general ward costs ₹ 20,000 per month with television, laundry services, nursing charges, attached toilet and bath, a kitchenette with microwave and a small fridge, included in the costs; medicines costing extra. Triple sharing would set one back ₹ 23,000 per month; double sharing ₹ 25,500 per month; and a private room ₹ 30,000 per month.

Balaji Healthcare opened its doors in 2011 but only after Dr Iyer fought long and hard to make her dream come true. Between irregular financial disbursements from banks and the builder’s threats to vacate the premises for lack of regular payments, Dr Iyer had a colossal struggle on her hands. “In 2012, I sold my Pune house and in 2015, I had to part with my home in Kopar Khairane [in Navi Mumbai] to avoid a penalty on my loan,” says the doctor, who lives on the premises along with her husband. The tide began to turn in September 2015, when friends and family came forward with donations.

The 56 year-old doctor developed the concept of a hospital-cum-home from her previous place of work. With a specialisation in general medicine and intensive care, Dr Iyer had worked at some of Mumbai’s biggest and best hospitals before taking the reins of a private, 40-bed hospital called Rajpal Hospital at Kopar Khairane in 2002.
“I took charge of the administration of Rajpal Hospital, which became the only hospital in the area catering to medical emergencies 24 hours a day. I further opened an old-age care ward inside the hospital, on a no-profit, no-loss basis as social service to the community,” recalls Dr Iyer, who continued to oversee the facility till 2012.

Rajpal Hospital was thus a stepping stone to setting up Balaji Healthcare but the idea had been brewing for much longer. Dr Iyer admits that the loss of her parents and in-laws and the feeling that she had not done enough for them probably drove her to set up this unique facility.

Balaji Healthcare caters to both in-patients and out-patients. It boasts three operation theatres, an intensive care unit, a dialysis unit and a psychiatric ward, among other facilities. There is also an incinerator on the premises that burns over 300 adult diapers a day while kitchen waste is turned into compost, which in turn is used as manure for a kitchen garden. For Dr Iyer, ‘patient care’ is not only about providing adequate medical attention but making the facility feel like home.

A A Ramakrishna, 79, a former advocate who used to practise in Ulhasnagar Civil Court, and a permanent resident of Balaji, is enjoying the well-stocked library. He says he has read 23 of the 27 Robert Ludlum thrillers there. “I arrived here four months ago because of sleeplessness,” he shares. “I was in Jupiter Hospital, Thane, for seven months but I had to vacate. My daughter, who lives in London, found Balaji for me and I am happy here.” As he sees Dr Iyer walking in, he adds cheekily, “as long as the books keep coming!”

Shipra Badra, 72, who suffers from neurocysticercosis, was in utter distress when she was admitted to Balaji in 2016. She was brought here from Kolkata by her daughter for treatment. Uncontrollable convulsions and the threat of sepsis left her in a pitiable state. A year-and-a-half later, under Dr Iyer’s care, her convulsions are under control but she has stayed on at Balaji Healthcare while her daughter lives and works in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai.

Clearly, what’s working here is not just the excellent medical care; the environment is also therapeutic. “Most long-term patients suffer from dementia, schizophrenia or Parkinson’s; for patients like these, the atmosphere is really important,” says Mala, who heads all the caregivers. “We are lucky Dr Iyer is such a cheerful personality herself, which is why she keeps the whole hospital happy.”

Dr Iyer invests as much in her staff as she does in the residents. One of the many ways she shows her commitment to them is by sponsoring her nurses for higher certification. While Pramila recently completed a course in auxiliary nursing and midwifery (ANM), Purnima, Jayshree and two other nurses also completed the general duty assistant (GDA) course.

To operate the dialysis machine, the hospital employs a technician from Navi Mumbai but, in a few months, Vrushali, a nurse and two, previously, office boys, but now candidates for certified hemodialysis technicians (CHT) will have completed their course.

Does Dr Iyer have any plans to expand her dream project? A large space for children with learning disabilities, perhaps. For the past two months, she has been organising sessions with these children, twice a week, within Balaji Healthcare and hopes to have a dedicated place for them soon. “The current class is 10-student strong and I have an occupational therapist coming in to tutor the children,” she reveals. “I hope to have more children coming in soon.”

Photos: Haresh Patel
Featured in Harmony — Celebrate Age Magazine
March 2018