National programme for health care for elderly

1.      The elderly people will reach by 350 million by 2050 and a large population would be women  and currently the elder people are 90 million. So the 12^th year plan has  host of provisions  to provide health services at various levels

2.      The ambitious National Programme for Health Care for Elderly (NPCHE) in 2010-11 to provide separate and specialised comprehensive health care to the senior citizens, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare proposes to develop two National Institutes of Ageing in the 12th Five Year Plan

3.      The two institutes will be set up at the Madras Medical College and AIIMS, New Delhi with an objective to undertake research on ageing in addition to other things like providing health care to the senior citizens

4.      The institutes are part of the NPCHE which also proposes geriatric departments in eight regional medical institutions and State Medical Colleges

5.      The programme also provides for dedicated health care for elderly persons in 91 districts of 20 States with a geriatric unit at the district hospitals, rehabilitation units at community health centres and weekly geriatric clinic at primary health centres

6.      Under the 12{+t}{+h}Plan, it is also proposed to develop 12 additional Regional Geriatric Centres in selected medical colleges of the country (in the first three years) while covering the remaining districts in a phased manner.

7.      The NPCHE had been approved in 2010 at an expenditure of Rs. 288 crore for the remaining period of the 11{+t}{+h}Five Year Plan. This includes 20 per cent share of the State governments (excluding the expenditure on Regional Medical Institutes) amounting to Rs. 48 crore while the remaining is to be borne by the Centre

8.      As of now, the programme has been implemented in 70 districts and is expected to cover the entire country during the 12th Plan. Its main objective is to provide preventive, curative and rehabilitative services to the elderly persons at various levels of health care delivery. It also aims at strengthening referral system to develop specialised manpower and to promote research in the field of diseases related to old age.

9.      The regional institutions are expected to provide technical support to the geriatric units at district hospitals whereas district hospitals supervise and coordinate the activities at the community health centres, primary health centres and sub-centres.

10. Close to 65 per cent senior citizens suffer from a chronic ailment of which arthritis/rheumatism, hypertension, cataract and diabetes are the most prevalent. About one-third suffer from two or more chronic ailments simultaneously. In general, morbidity levels tend to be higher among females across all age groups of elderly and also associated with socio-economic classes with expected rural-urban differentials