19 regional medical colleges to get geriatric training centres : MOS Health

Two National Centres for Ageing (NCA) in AIIMS Delhi and Madras Medical College, Chennai have been sanctioned to be developed as centres of excellence for geriatrics

New Delhi: 19 regional geriatric centres in government medical colleges of 18 states have been approved by the Union Health Ministry for specialized care and training purpose under the National Programme for the Health Care of Elderly (NPHCE) scheme.

Confirmation to this effect was made by MOS Health and Family Welfare Anupriya Patel recently

"Two National Centres for Ageing (NCA) in AIIMS Delhi and Madras Medical College, Chennai have been sanctioned to be developed as centres of excellence for geriatrics," Patel stated during an event reports IANS.

The minister highlighted that the rapidly changing global demographics have resulted in a sharp rise in the demand for senior care services.

"This, coupled with an increased life expectancy of the population and an increased tendency globally to have nuclear families. Preventive and promotive care, management of illness, health manpower development for geriatric services, medical rehabilitation and therapeutic intervention and IEC are some of the strategies envisaged in the NPHCE," Patel stated.

The National Programme for Health Care of the Elderly (NPHCE) is an articulation of the International and national commitments of the Government as envisaged under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), National Policy on Older Persons (NPOP) adopted by the Government of India in 1999 and Section 20 of "The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007" dealing with provisions for medical care of Senior Citizen.

The programme has envisaged providing promotional, preventive, curative and rehabilitative services in an integrated manner for the Elderly in various Government health facilities. The range of services will include health promotion, preventive services, diagnosis and management of geriatric medical problems (out and in-patient), day care services, rehabilitative services and home based care as needed. Districts will be linked to Regional Geriatric Centres for providing tertiary level care.