Helpline for elderly logs over 3.39L calls since May

New Delhi: The government's senior citizen helpline, Elderline, has received over 3.39 lakh calls since May, with more than 79,000 of them from Uttar Pradesh.

The national helpline launched by the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry in collaboration with Tata Trusts aims to reach out to the elderly seeking assistance.

Among states, the highest number of calls were received from Uttar Pradesh at 79,542 followed by Uttarakhand at 54,432, Telangana at 42,610, Tamil Nadu at 27,708 and Karnataka at 22,711.

More men than women reached out to Elderline seeking help.

According to the data, 23,390 men called the helpline while the number stood at 8,178 for women.

The top reasons for reaching out to the helpline included Covid support(13,496), pension (8,952), abuse (1890), health-related support (1202), rescue (423) and queries related to old age homes (632), according to the data.

However, out of the 3,39,879 calls received since May 1, as many as 3,02,195 calls were non serviceable calls which include non genuine requests like nuisance calls, calls with out of scope requests for non elderly among others, according to the data shared by the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry.

While out of 37,684 genuine calls, 17,933 calls (47.59 per cent) were related to COVID-19 related support, vaccination information and voluntary services among others.

About 11,209 calls (29.75 per cent) were looking for guidance in subjects of legal counsel, direction for social security and pension related issues.

As many as 5,550 calls (14.73 per cent) were seeking information that includes calls which provides details of old age homes, caregivers, day care centres, hospitals, doctors among others.