Although elders in cities like Chennai have access to good healthcare, rural areas are still in need of more facilities.
Geriatric healthcare in Chennai has come a long way since 1978, when the first geriatric outpatient department was started at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital. Later, a 10-bed ward was set up, which was later expanded to 30 beds, with a separate ICU for elderly patients. Now, with the establishment of the Regional Geriatric Centre and the National Institute of Ageing, the elderly in Chennai have access to good healthcare.
Now, geriatric care for rural populations has gained utmost importance, former head of the geriatrics department at the hospital, V. S. Natarajan, said. “There are a large number of elderly in rural areas, whose families have left to work in the cities or abroad. For these people, access to medical care becomes a big problem,” he said.
“Currently, there are only four medical colleges that offer the speciality, and each college has only two or three students every year,” former head of the geriatrics department at Madras Medical College, B. Krishnaswamy, said. There are fewer than 30 geriatric specialists in the State. It therefore becomes difficult to have a good doctor-patient ratio unless regular doctors also treat geriatric patients, he added.
Geriatric medicine is a multi-discipline speciality, which needs doctors from different specialities to come together to effectively treat patients. Although all the district hospitals have 10 beds each allocated for geriatric care, more needs to be done to build capacity and raise awareness, officials said.
“Once the National Institute of Ageing comes up, there will be capacity building for geriatric doctors, nurses and paramedical help. The elderly and their caretakers will also be sensitised,” a government health official said. He added that the National Institute of Ageing was awaiting approval from the Central government.
