Maharashtra: MD Geriatrics to start at GMC Aurangabad

Aurangabad: An official recognition has come the way of the Geriatric Department, Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Aurangabad in the form of a government resolution, earlier this year. The department has ever since been waiting for an approval from the Medical Council of India to start a Post Graduation course in Geriatrics.

"An official approval would allow GMCH to facilitate an MD in geriatrics making it the first hospital in the state and third in the country," Mangala Borkar, HOD, Geriatrics Department, told TOI on Monday.

"Though the department did not get any special funds from the government, the 30-bed department was realised through contributions by donors from social circles in the city. With the help of donors, the discarded beds were repaired, painted and are being used at the department dedicated to the elderly," Borkar said.

The department has a staff strength of a professor, an associate professor, lecturers, assistant lecturers, service resident doctors and a dedicated OPD. The resident doctors are to join this geriatrics unit of the government-run hospital, by next year.

"Though it is not a very glamorous stream, we have a significant geriatric population and this department is the need of the hour," Borkar opined.

The department is supposedly working in passionate coordination with other departments like the ophthalmology, the physiotherapy, orthopaedics and the ENT.

With a doctors, medical officers and nurses training in the offing, government hospital sources state that there is all likelihood of an MCI approval being given for a PG course, by June next year, reports TOI.