'Pakeezah' actor Geeta Kapoor now in Andheri old-age home

MUMBAI: Actress Geeta Kapoor was shifted to an old-age home in Andheri on Thursday from the Goregaon hospital where she spent 41 days waiting for her children to take her home. Hospital staffers bade her a tearful farewell, even as her eyes kept searching for her son.
Kapoor was shifted to Jeevan Asha at Veera Desai Road in Andheri (W), run by a charitable institution, after police gave an NOC to SRV Hospital authorities to shift her.The hospital’s chief intensivist, Dr Dipendra Tripathi, signed a personal bond accepting responsibility for her well-being as no one from her family was present.
Dr Tripathi said the hardest part was to drop her off at the old-age centre. “She was clinging on to me. She did not want me to leave and held on to my hand. We had to distract her, saying her family would soon be around to take her home. It was perhaps one of the most difficult moments of my life,” said the doctor.
The nurses who took care of Kapoor for over a month were heartbroken to see her excitement while changing the hospital clothes. “She perhaps thought she was going home,” the doctor said. Tripathi said she had her meal at Jeevan Asha but refused to take medicines without the doctors’ supervision.
Kapoor, a small-time actress who worked in films like ‘Pakeezah’, was abandoned by her choreographer son after he admitted her to hospital on April 21. She has a daughter who lives in Pune and is said to be working in the aviation sector. Police hardly made any attempts to trace her son despite a written complaint from the hospital on May 2. They told the hospital that his location could not be tracked as his mobile phone was switched off for the past few days.
Part of the hospital dues was cleared by film-maker Ashoke Pandit and some other industry members. A patient of SRV Hospital contributed Rs30,000 for her treatment. The hospital also waived off part of the bill amount. Pandit said, “We will continue to be by her side.”