Under the Surakshit Senior Citizens’ Abhiyaan, the Hailakandi district administration in association with Piramal Foundation has reached out to the senior citizens during the lockdown.

Programme manager of Piramal Foundation, Sadasiva Reddy, on Tuesday said the organisation along with the district administration had reached out to the elderly in distress through its 310 volunteers over the past several days.

A total of 689 calls were made to the elderly and to those whose children are stuck in different parts of the country.

“We are connected with the elderly and vulnerable sections of society through our volunteers and made video calls with the help of volunteers. We assured them of all possible help and support to ensure their safety and well-being,” Reddy said.

A case study made by Piramal Foundation brought to the fore interesting facts. It was found that 70 per cent of the senior citizens were aware of causes and symptoms of coronavirus. Sixty-nine per cent senior citizens adopted precautionary measures such as wearing face masks, hand washing for 20 seconds, maintaining 6ft social-distancing, among others.

Reddy said Piramal Foundation’s virtual field support agents calling senior citizens to enquire about their health status has lead to creation of a database of people suffering from chronic diseases and ensures their medicines and other needs are provided.

Reddy informed that 64 per cent of senior citizens were overwhelmingly happy that the district administration reached out to them during the lockdown.