The Times of India reported this week that the country’s Health Ministry is set to roll out a National Programme for the Health Care of the Elderly (NPHCE) beginning in 2012. Joint Chief of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, B. K. Prasad explains the program is designed to be preventative, curative, and rehabilitative for the elderly.
Under the program, district hospitals will create 10-bed geriatric wards, while eight regional centers are set to be equipped with 30-bed geriatric centers. In addition, healthcare workers in sub-centers will be trained to make home visits, placing significant focus on bedridden seniors. The healthcare staff will also train families to manage the health of their loved ones and facilitate in the delivery of supportive devices.
The NPHCE was created in response to India’s aging population trends and concerns that healthcare systems may not adequately meet the needs of its elder citizens. Prasad explains that the program was formulated to address various health-related problems affecting seniors. However underlying challenges may lie ahead, as evidenced by a recent ministry note detailing that a majority (80%) of the senior population is living in rural areas of the country and that almost a third of those seniors are living below the poverty line.
In addition to the NPHCE, the concerns for care of the frail elderly will be discussed in an upcoming conference. The Department of Hospital Administration will collaborate with the World Health Organization (WHO), the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), The Indian Institute of Architects (NC), and the Academy of Hospital Administration (AHA) to organize an International Conference on Recent Advances and Future Trends in Healthcare Infrastructure and Medical Technology (HIMT 2011). The conference will be held in New Delhi from February 2-5, 2011.
The aim of the conference is to provide a platform to discuss the synergies among India’s healthcare industries as well as those of neighboring countries. One-thousand delegates will gather to deliberate multi-national topics, but will also address India specific concerns like mobile healthcare and cost-effective infrastructure for semi-urban and rural settings.
With increasing life expectancy, demographic ageing is an emerging phenomenon which will hit India hard in the coming years. The fact that their government has begun taking action now is not only promising, but necessary for the future health of one of the world’s largest populations.
