This page attempts to provide a consolidated list of dementia caregiver resources in India. In case you know of any other resource, or of any error on this page, please let us know by contacting us. [read disclaimer.]
Information specific to various cities/ states is available on the city-wise/ region-wise resource page here. [View page with informational websites on dementia / caregiving (International)].
- ARDSI (Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Society of India) and its Chapters in various cities in India.
- Dementia India Alliance.
- Dignity Foundation.
- Helpage India.
- Dementia Day Care and Respite care.
- Dementia Helplines.
- Elder Helplines.
- Helplines when distressed/ depressed.
- Indian portals for related areas: old age and for mental health.
- Other sites for dementia and care directly relevant for India.
- Palliative care resources.
- Online services for dementia diagnosis and supporting care.
- Other resource pages in this section of the site.
ARDSI (Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Society of India) and its Chapters.
ARDSI (Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Society of India) is the national body for dementia in India, and the Indian member organization in the international body for dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI). Their website is ardsi.org Opens in new window (it may not have all required information/ may not be updated). Their Facebook presence is at ARDSI National Office FB page Opens in new window. The ARDSI national office for liaison/ advocacy is at Delhi, while their national administrative office is in Kunnamkulam, Thrissur, Kerala. Contacts: 04885 223801 (office), helplines 98461 98473, and 98461 98471. Email ID is: ardsinationaloffice@gmail.com. They have published reports like the Dementia India Report 2010 (released in September 2010) and the Dementia India Strategy 2018 (released September 2018).
ARDSI has chapters in various cities, and these provide various dementia-related services. Examples of what may be available (these differ by chapter) are memory clinic, caregiver support groups, home visits for assessment, caregiver training for home carers and professional carers, day care centres, counseling, and helplines. The chapters may also publicize dementia through awareness programs, functions for the World Alzheimer’s Day, and other events. Some ARDSI chapters are registered NGOs, others are not. A few chapters maintain websites, though these may not be updated regularly. Some chapters actively offer support, services, training, and so on, while others are not active, though they may help if contacted. It is best to contact the organizations by phone/ email to get the latest news.
Some ARDSI chapters are run in coordination with or managed by well-known hospitals of the city, or by major elder care service organizations.
Information on chapters is available on the respective city pages at city-wise/ region-wise dementia resources pages.
Dementia India Alliance.
Dementia India AllianceOpens in new window, started in 2023, is a non-profit family carer-centered national organization with a primary focus on supporting family caregivers and fostering a dementia-inclusive society. It plans to have initiatives and services to enhance the quality of life for individuals with dementia and their families. In September 2023, they announced starting a National Dementia Support Line at 8585 990 990, operating 8:00am to 6:00pm, Monday through Saturday, offering services in English, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, and Telugu (see National Support Line Opens in new window ). They also announced starting DIA-DemClinic , an online memory clinic; you can see the details at DemClinic Opens in new window .
Dignity Foundation.
Dignity Foundation Opens in new window works in the general area of senior care, and has a presence in some cities for senior care and community. They have a senior citizen helpline at 1800 267 8780 and provide a number of services for elders. Dignity also has some dementia day care centres in some cities and an assisted care facility for people with dementia as well as other senior citizens with disability in Neral. Contact information for local Dignity branches and dementia services can be seen on the city/ region specific pages listed on our city-wise/ region-wise dementia resource pages.
Helpage India.
Helpage India works in the area of elders. It focuses on fighting isolation, poverty, and neglect, and supports many initiatives for elders., such as their Geriatric Physiotherapy clinics which is available in some cities Opens in new window. Their work may also include projects relevant for dementia. The Helpage India website Opens in new window contains information on their projects and also may have useful downloads like old age home directories. The site gives contact information for its national office and its various branches. The Helpage toll-free helpline number is 1800-180-1253 or you can contact Helpage in your city using the contact information on their site.
Dementia day care, respite care and long-term care.
India has very few day care centers and full-time care facilities suitable for dementia compared to the number of persons with dementia in India, and these few are almost all in metros. However, this number is increasing slowly. Some places are designed specifically to support persons with dementia (either only for persons with dementia or for elders with special needs including elders with dementia). Some places accept persons with dementia even though it is not stated as such in their brochures/ websites. Some places have expanded to include dementia because the elders they were already serving have developed dementia, or to cater to the repeated requests. For example, some residential facilities now accept persons with dementia for stay, rehabilitation, assisted living, extended hospital care, etc. There are also some places that claim to support dementia though they don’t have trained staff or infrastructure or experts.
DAY CARE CENTRES: There are some day cares/ “active ageing” centres in India that accept persons with dementia. Some are exclusively for persons with dementia, some have a mixed profile. Day cares vary in their capacity, charges, whether they provide transport and food, etc.
FULL-TIME CARE CENTRES: Some full-time care centres in India accept persons with dementia. Full time care homes vary widely in capacity. Costs range from free and for destitute persons picked up from streets to mid-range places and to places costing well over a lakh rupees a month. They may accept only dementia persons, dementia and other neuro/ psychiatrist problems, or mixed profiles (normal elders, elders who need help with ADL, elders with dementia, etc.). Some are assisted living designed mainly for early/ mid-stage persons, while others are fully equipped for terminal care and placed within the premises of hospitals. Some have multiple types of rooms (single occupant, twin sharing, or dorms with 7-8 persons). Typically, places accept residents for both short and long stay.
Whenever considering a day care or full-time care (short term or long term), it is essential to do proper evaluation for any place for suitability, reliability, etc. Suggestions for this are available at Using various dementia/ home care services.
Data available with us on such facilities and other dementia/ care resources is collated on pages listed on the City-wise/ region-wise dementia care information page.
Note that facilities keep getting added/ closed down for various reasons and availability also changed because of problems many faced during the pandemic and lockdown etc. Our data may be incomplete/ outdated. Also, quality of the listed places may improve or deteriorate with time. Always contact the place directly and evaluate it for suitability and reliability. Note that any information provided on any resource is only for convenience and is not an endorsement of any kind. Also, please send in information of changes that you know about, so that the data can be updated.
Dementia Helplines.
Two national dementia helplines available are:
- Tele counselling helpline for mental health, Tele-MANAS: Toll-free, 24/7 helpline number 14416 or 1-800-91-4416, is also usable for dementia, is managed by the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, and available in many languages.
- The National Dementia Support Line (from Dementia India Alliance) at 8585 990 990, 8:00am to 6:00pm, Monday through Saturday.
Many dementia organizations (including ARDSI chapters) also list helplines. Some such helplines provide information on dementia and answer queries related to dementia and care, but most focus on information on the dementia services and facilities by the organization running the helpline, or are used for fixing an appointment for more detailed consultation. If you are looking for information on dementia and care, please see this (Dementia Care Notes) website. Also, you can use our city-wise/ region-wise dementia resource pages and contact individual entities listed there. Larger entities are more likely to help with general information on dementia.
Elder Helplines.
A National Helpline for Senior Citizens has been made available by the Central Govt (Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment) on Oct 1, 2021, and is connected to relevant departments in various states (see this explanation Opens in new window). It is operational in many states, and others are soon expected to make it operational. This Seniors Helpline is toll-free and available at 14567 , all 7 days a week, 8 am to 8 pm.
Some cities also run Elders Helpline/ Senior Citizens’ Helpline, often a cooperation between some NGO working for elder welfare, and the police department. These helplines can be used to report abuse of elders, or assist elders in various ways, as well as get information on legal and other issues that relate to elders. They may provide information on day care facilities, respite care, home nursing facilities, services that provide attendants and nurses, and old age homes. (See also section on Helpage and section on Dignity on this page).
Also check the links on our city-wise/ region-wise dementia resource pages for elder helplines of the respective city pages.
Helplines when distressed/ depressed.
Here are some resources (helplines/ email ids) of organizations that provide help to persons who may be depressed/ distressed.
Please contact a helpline when you feel overwhelmed, and do not postpone this contacting till you are utterly desperate. If you can’t get through to a helpline, please try another helpline or try after some time. Helplines sometimes have poorer responses because of problems in funding/ volunteer availability, so please don’t give up!!
The list below is an alphabetically arranged selection of what seem to be more active helplines; however, to emphasize again, you may need to try multiple options to reach one that works for you. Helplines are typically designed to ensure confidential and provide anonymity, but please confirm this with them before talking. Suggestions and feedback are welcome.
Aasra has a 24×7 helpline at 91-98 2046 6726 . Email: aasrahelpline@yahoo.com. Site: aasra.info Opens in new window. Facebook page here Opens in new window.
Connecting NGO Pune, at 99 2200 4305 and 99 2200 1122, available daily 12- 8 pm in English, Hindi, and Marathi. helps people contemplating/attempting/ surviving after suicide and their families. Email – distressmailsconnecting@gmail.com Site at connectingngo.org Opens in new window, FB page is here Opens in new window and there is also a Youtube channel here Opens in new window and Instagram page Opens in new window.
COOJ Mental Health Foundation, a Goa initiative. Call their distress helpline: +91 832 225 2525, 1 to 7 pm, Monday to Friday. Website: cooj.co.in Opens in new window Facebook page Opens in new window. E-counselling email: youmatterbycooj@gmail.com.
Hitguj (BMC) is Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation initiative, see some 2020 coverage here Opens in new window. (current state of project not known). Call 022-2413-1212, 24 x 7. Website: hitgujhelpline.wordpress.com .
iCall (TISS) is run by TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences). Call: 91 5298 7821, 10 AM to 8 PM, Monday to Saturday. Email: icall@tiss.edu, Site: icallhelpline.org Their Facebook page Opens in new window. There is also a chatline available 9 to 9, Mon to Friday for youth, see reYou Opens in new window. A resource to help people find counselors in India along with information on each counselor, created as part of a crowd-sourcing initiative by iCall, can be viewed at iCALL’s crowdsourced list of Mental Health Professionals We Can TrustOpens in new window.
KIRAN, at 1800-599-0019, is a 24×7 toll-free mental health rehabilitation helpline launched in Sep 2020, developed by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), to provide the first line of counselling in response to the increasing mental health issues due to the pandemic. TO be available in 13 languages including Tamil, Hindi, English, Gujarati, Urdu, Assamese, Kannada and Malayalam using 25 helpline centres across India. See announcements at Twitter Opens in new window and at the Press Information Bureau Opens in new window.
Samaritans Helpline (The Samaritan Facebook page Opens in new window) lists its helplines as +91 8422984528/ +91 8422984529/ +91 8422984530, 4 PM to 10 PM, all days. Email: talk2samaritans@gmail.com , Website samaritansmumbai.org Opens in new window.
Sneha, at 044 2464 0050 and 044- 2464 0060 – helpline, available 10am to 10pm and online chat from site is available for some time after 10pm. Site snehaindia.org Opens in new window, Email Helpline: help@snehaindia.org . See website or their Fb page for current timings. Facebook page here Opens in new window.
Sumaitri is a Delhi-based crisis intervention center for depression. Call: 011-46018404 or +91 931 576 7849 12:30 PM to 5:00 PM 7 Days a Week Facebook page Opens in new window Email: feelingsuicidal@sumaitri.net, Site: sumaitri.net Opens in new window.
Tele-MANAS: This is an initiative of Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and was launched in Oct 2022. A toll-free, 24/7 helpline number (14416) has been set up across the country allowing callers to select the language of choice for availing services. Service is also accessible with 1-800-91-4416. The calls would be routed to Tele-MANAS cells in the respective state and union territory. The site is here Opens in new window.
Vandrevala Foundation Helpline is a 24 x 7 hour helpline for emergencies. Call or Whatsapp: 9999-666-555. Email: help@vandrevalafoundation.com (email response time may be higher) , Site: vandrevalafoundation.com Opens in new window.
Indian portals for related areas: old age and for mental health.
Old Age Solutions Opens in new window is a portal created as part of the Technology Initiative for Disabled and Elderly, an initiative of the Department of Science and Technology, This portal provides information related to health, nutritional requirements, entertainment, recreation, environment, networking, and assistive devices for the ageing. The portal is available in English Opens in new window and Hindi Opens in new window .
The White Swan Foundation Opens in new window is a not-for-profit organization, whose partners include the reputed specialty hospital, NIMHANS Bangalore. White Swan has a portal on mental health and well-being intended for persons suffering from a mental health problem or caring for someone with a mental illness. The portal includes discussion on dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease and has a search feature to locate information of interest.
The White Swan Foundation portal is available in multiple Indian languages; as of May 2023, these are: English Opens in new window, Bengali Opens in new window, Hindi Opens in new window, Malayalam Opens in new window, Tamil Opens in new window and Kannada Opens in new window. More languages may be added.
Other sites for dementia and care directly relevant for India.
Some Indian (or mainly India-based) sites also address dementia or caregiving. Most of the coverage on many sites is basic, covering what is already available in greater detail on the international sites. But some sites include some booklets in various Indian languages; see Dementia/ Alzheimer’s Information in Indian Languages for more details of resources in various Indian languages.
Additionally, check PatientsEngage Opens in new window. This platform provides information and interviews on multiple medical conditions, and has a lot of material relevant for Indian families,, and includes material on dementia and care, such as articles, caregiver stories, interviews, etc. It is available in English and Hindi.
Some Indian bloggers have blogged about their personal dementia and care experiences. The data we have on this can be seen on Voices: Caregiving in the news which has links to useful individual blog entries as well as links to more extensive dementia blogs.
Palliative Care resources.
Palliative care is very relevant for dementia care, especially in advanced stages and end-of-life, as persons with dementia do not always benefit from aggressive medical treatment and repeated hospital visits, and the trade-offs are difficult for laypersons to evaluate. Understanding the concepts of palliative care empowers families to handle care better. A related read: Home Care for advanced Dementia: how Palliative Care can help – Opens in new window.
Palliative care is relatively new in India, and most of the focus has been in cancer/ HIV, so most practitioners may not be experienced in dementia palliation. Some organizations support palliative care through their services and also online resources and directories. Also, some other organizations, like hospitals and other service providers, integrate palliative care concepts in their work.
Some palliative care organizations are: Indian Institute of Palliative Care Opens in new window, the Thrissur based organizations, Pain & Palliative Care Society, Thrissur Opens in new window (district-wise directories also available at site), and Trivandrum-based Pallium India Opens in new window ( view the Pallium directory Opens in new window). The following may also be useful: Institute of Palliative Medicine Opens in new window and an FAQ from an Indian resource, Institute of Palliative Medicine Opens in new window. You can also contact the Pallium Helpline at 91 964 588 4889 / +91 860 688 4889 for information and telephonic consultation.
Two useful online directories of palliative care units in India can be viewed at: Directory of Palliative Care Services (Asia Pacific) Opens in new window and Global Directory of Palliative Care Services, Hospices and Organizations Opens in new window (search for Asia, then select India).
In addition to the directories available at these sites above, our City-wise/ region-wise resources may include specific links for palliative care in the city.
For some online international discussions/ data check the palliative care resources on this page.
Online services for dementia diagnosis and supporting care.
Many organizations in India have started providing diagnosis and care support online. As online resources can be accessed by anyone with Internet, families are not restricted to local organizations for such services. Some organizations hold closed sessions for families they were earlier helping through in-person initiatives, and have helpline support and active follow-up.
Diagnosis and medical consultation: Many doctors and hospitals and healthcare platforms now offer diagnosis and treatment support online. You can ask for online consultations, and may even be able to get advice from doctors outside your city. One new platform is DemClinic Opens in new window (from Dementia India Alliance).
Support Groups: There has been an increase in caregiver support using WhatsApp groups. These often start out for supporting families in touch with an organization, but may have been extended to accept a wider range of caregivers. These groups vary widely in terms of level of activity and quality of moderation. You can ask existing support organization if they offer such support. One particularly active group in this context is the Whatsapp group of ARDSI Hyderabad, which has dementia carers from across India. Contact 99499 61414 / 98495 48977 for more information. (more on support groups later on the page).
Helplines: Nationally available helplines are listed above for senior citizen support, depression, dementia, and palliative care. Helplines from local organizations in senior care and dementia can also be seen on the respective city-wise/ region-wise pages.
Note that many organizations listed on various individual city pages reachable through City-wise/ region-wise resources) may have some online offerings and you can know about these through their sites/ social media presence.
Other resource pages in this section of the site.
In this Internet age, international online resources and forums on dementia and related care are accessible from anywhere in the world. Many major Alzheimer’s associations have very comprehensive sites, and while these may include information not relevant for those in India, they will still have many useful articles and tips. Also, there are some useful disease-specific support forums, and some large international support forums. See these and more at: Informational websites on dementia / caregiving (International).
For India city/ region-specific resources, check this page: City-wise/ region-wise resources.
For dementia and care related information in Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, check the links on this page: Dementia/ Alzheimer’s Information in Indian Languages. Also see our video resources page for links to videos in Indian languages.
Disclaimer: The resources/ links provided here are intended for information and convenience, and are not in any way intended to be an endorsement for the resource. Also, facilities offered keep changing, so please contact the organizations to get up-to-date information.
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