Bengaluru, which used to be a pensioner’s paradise has undergone numerous drastic changes as it gradually transformed into an IT hub and housed an increasing number of students and professionals who settled here for education and jobs. This resulted in squeezing out of the city’s seniors from public spaces.

Nuclear family structures, rapid technological changes, and longer life spans have left Bengaluru’s elderly citizens in the lurch in a general sense. Sensing their predicament and increasingly isolated conditions, a doctor and a social entrepreneur built facilities for their well-being.

Dr. Radha Murthy, an alumnus of St John's Medical College in Bengaluru, and S Premkumar Raja, an MPhil degree holder from Annamalai University, founded one of Bengaluru's backbones for elderly care in 1996 with a simple effort to provide medical assistance at home for the elderly in north Bengaluru - with a garage as an office.

They founded the  Nightingales Medical Trust in 1998 which over the years has addressed issues like abuse of the elderly, care of the homeless elderly, as well as illnesses.

An Elders Helpline (1090), established two decades ago by the Nightingales in collaboration with the Bengaluru police to address the issue of elderly abuse for the first time in the country, continues to be a mainstay for assisting elders in Bengaluru in dealing with family abuse as well as issues such as delayed pensions.

In collaboration with the Bengaluru city municipal council, the Nightingales also run two homes for destitute elderly men and women from the weaker sections of society, Sandhya Kirana and Sandhya Suraksha, as well as multiple elderly enrichment centers throughout Bengaluru to engage senior citizens who are healthy but often home alone in creative and vocational pursuits. They now intend to create one of India’s largest residential care facilities for elders affected by age-related diseases like dementia. People in their twilight years need the most care and attention, which unfortunately is dwindling nowadays, but thanks to the efforts of people like Dr. Radha Murthy and Premkumar Raja, they can rest assured that they will be taken care of.