Queen’s University professor fighting to get father with dementia OHIP exemption
Global News
Reena Kukreja said she is lobbying the Ministry of Health to give her father a compassionate exemption for an OHIP number so he can live out his remaining months in dignity.
A Kingston, Ont., woman says she’s stuck in limbo as she fights to get her 96-year-old father end of life care. He does not have an OHIP number.
Reena Kukreja, an assistant professor at Queen’s University, has lived in Canada for 30 years.
She brought her father, Krishan Kukreja, over from India on a temporary visa in 2016, following the death of her mother.
In November of last year, Krishan developed a silent urinary tract infection that, in turn, accelerated symptoms of dementia.
Reena now says it is unsafe for everybody involved for her father to continue living at her home.
“He became increasingly delirious, paranoid, aggressive, to a point where he was committing, almost, self-harm, trying to break glass windows, glass doors, walking outside of the doors, hitting me, almost came to breaking my hands,” said Reena.
Since he is not a permanent resident of Canada, Krishan has not been able to secure an OHIP card, leaving him stuck without a place to go, despite the fact the family has offered to pay for long-term care out of pocket.
“I am in a Catch-22 situation. I have no idea what to do next and, so, now we’ll be looking and reaching out to long-term care institutions again and saying, ‘is there a way we can break this impasse?'” she said.