Arranging care for your parents in Bangalore while you live abroad
The hardest part is not finding a carer. It is knowing, from six thousand miles away, whether the care is any good.
The distance changes what you should ask for
When you live in the same city you can drop in unannounced, and that alone keeps standards up. When you do not, the arrangement has to be built so that it works without you — and that means insisting on things a local family might not bother with.
Ask for a written daily record
Not a reassuring phone call. What the patient ate, what medication was given and when, how they slept, whether they got out of bed, what changed. A daily record is how you notice the slow decline that nobody thinks worth mentioning — and it is how you have a real conversation with a doctor at the next appointment.
Agree the emergency plan on day one
Which hospital. Who is authorised to take the patient there. Which relative or neighbour can reach the house within the hour. Who calls you, and at what point. Ten minutes of conversation at the start, and it is the only part of the arrangement you will be grateful for at three in the morning.
Be honest about time zones
If you are in the Gulf, the UK, or North America, tell us when you can actually take a call. An arrangement that depends on you answering at two in the afternoon Bangalore time will fail quietly, and everyone will pretend it is fine.
Speak to your parent's own preferences
The person who is going to be bathed and helped and sat with has a view on who does it, in what language, and whether it is a man or a woman. It is worth asking directly, even if the answer is inconvenient — a parent who is uncomfortable will often say nothing and simply refuse the care.
We are used to dealing with families abroad
Tell us where you are and when you can take a call, and we will work around it.