The city will soon get its first day-care centre for patients of Alzheimer’s disease with the Union government approving funds for three such facilities in Calcutta, Delhi and Chennai.

Of the 230,000 Calcuttans aged over 65, nearly 46,000 suffer from the disease. According to a study by the UK-based Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI), there were 10 lakh new cases in India in 2005.

Dementia results in memory loss, confusion and disorientation. Alzheimer’s is one of the most acute and common forms of the disease, say doctors.

“We have been verbally assured of the funds by the social justice and empowerment ministry. We will look after 10 to 15 patients free on a daily basis once the centre opens in May,” Nilanjana Maulik, the secretary of the Calcutta chapter of Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Society of India, told Metro on Sunday. Affiliated with ADI, the society has been working with dementia patients and their families since 1999.

The day-care centre will be set up at Ankur, the social service wing of Nehru Children’s Museum near Jadavpur, said Maulik, adding that the society plans to open more day-care centres in the future.

On Sunday, the society had organised a workshop to generate awareness on Alzheimer’s. The popular belief that ageing leads to dementia comes in the way of Alzheimer’s being recognised as a disease, said a volunteer at the society.

Amitabha Ghosh, the head of the neurology department at Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, who conducts the society’s medical check-ups, said: “The symptoms of the disease can be kept in check for several years. Extensive research is on to find medicines to slow down the progress of the disease.”

The society also screened a documentary on the difficulties faced by dementia patients and their families. One of the subjects was an 85-year-old slum-dweller, who always keeps her fist clenched and hurts herself often.

Her daughter, whom she does not recognise any more, has to take care of her basic needs.

Another subject was a former high court lawyer who can no longer read a book because of Alzheimer’s.