Many of these people were put there by their children. They have accepted their fate and are patiently waiting for their death.
Arab News visited one such home for old women in Makkah and spoke to a number of occupants and officials.
Amal Yelli is a social worker at the home who used to work at a protection home for girls in Makkah. She said she works with at least 14 women, half of them Saudi.
"There are 48 old women and four young women living in the home. The young women were put in the home for private reasons. We refer to them as special cases," she said.
Amal said the old women in the home would be looked after, provided with medical care, rehabilitated and taught some skills. She told Arab News that the coffee served in her office was prepared by one of the occupants who was referred to the home by the psychiatric hospital in Taif.
"When she first came to the home, the woman did not know how to prepare tea or coffee," she said.
She pointed to some plants in her office and said they were grown and nurtured by old women in the home.
Amal told Arab News the story of an old woman who was seen earlier moving around in a wheelchair. She said the woman, who came from an Arab country, married a Saudi and had three children with him.
"The woman suffered a stroke in a car accident which killed her husband. Her sons were young at the time. She was in a coma for two years and when she regained consciousness, she found herself paralyzed. She also suffered from psychological trauma for which she was treated at the psychiatric hospital before she was brought to this home," she said.
According to Amal, the woman is now able to cook, prepare tea and coffee and nurture plants. She said her sons, who were now looking for work, would come to take their mother back as soon as they are employed.
Amal said the home accepts three categories of women: those who are old, those with psychological problems and special cases. "The home is like a hospital. We have women who cannot move or turn over in their beds without the help of a nurse," she said.
Amal said women suffering from psychological problems are closely observed, taken good care of and given medicine on time. She called for building special homes for such cases as their number was on the rise.
She said though the old women were taken good care of at the home, they needed to communicate with the outside world. "School students visit us from time to time but this is not enough. There should be regular visits to these old women," she said.
Amal said old women were referred to the home mainly by the Arbita (charity homes) and the Ministry of Social Affairs.
"The ministry will write to us about a certain case. We visit the woman and gather all information about her before we give our consent to take her in," she said.
She explained that in order to be accepted at the home, the woman should be old, a Saudi national, carry no contagious diseases and has no one to look after her.
She added the home usually overlooked the condition governing contagious diseases, as there are a number of women doctors and nurses.
Amal said there were a number of cases in the home where children were not willing to look after their old parents. She told Arab News about an old Arab woman whose two well-off sons did not visit her for years.
The woman came to the Kingdom more than 60 years ago and married a Saudi when she was only 12. "I have four sons from him, of whom two are psychiatric cases and the other two healthy. My healthy sons never bothered to visit me," she said.
Another woman who was hardly 40 was a victim of domestic abuse. The woman, referred to by her initials S.A., said her drug addict husband used to beat her every day. "I went to my own brother but he was no better. He encouraged my husband to beat me. I had no other option but to come to this home," she said.
Another old Saudi woman said she took refuge at the home because her own daughter was regularly beating her and had finally threatened to kill her if she did not go away.
