The second International Conference on 'Geriology, Geriatrics Medicine and Rehabilitation' has highlighted the serious shortfall in diagnostics and therapy of its aging population. Besides it has also brought to fore that the country is facing a major shortage of trained experts to handle the geriatric population.

The country requires a focused approach in treating its growing elderly population which currently accounts for 120 million forming 11 per cent of the population, said Dr V P Rao, convener, Organising Committee of the second International Conference on Geriology, Geriatrics Medicine and Rehabilitation.

With the growing population and increased longevity the number of senior citizens in India has increased to 100 million and is expected to increase to 324 million by 2050, said Dr Anoop Amarbnath, director Geriatrics, Apollo Hospitals, Bengaluru.

The paucity of dedicated doctors to handle an aging population is a concern. The country is facing India is facing a severe shortage of trained specialists to handle the health related issues of geriatric patients. There are only six post graduate seats in the specialization of geriatrics across the country. This poses a serious challenge before healthcare providers, said KS Sri Prakash, vice chancellor, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Health Sciences, Bengaluru.

In order to increase the number of personnel not just in the doctors category, efforts need to be made to augment the existing personnel in the nursing and physiotherapy space too. “We working out the modalities to come out with a training programme for training experts to handle the Geriology, Geriatrics Medicine and Rehabilitation, added vice RGHUS vice chancellor in his address at the two day event held from September 30 to October 1, 2013 at J N Tata Auditorium, Indian Institute of Sciences, Bengaluru.

There event which was inaugurated by the Karnataka governor Dr Hans Raj Bhardwaj, also displayed the first ever live demonstration of managing an Intensive Care Unit at home for the elderly, remotely from a hospital. “This demonstrates that the most important requirement in managing the elderly - making available healthcare at the point of need i.e. their doorstep - is easily achievable,” said Dr Amarnath.

According to the Minister of State for Planning and Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla, aging population is the most significant emerging demographic phenomenon in the world. In 2050, 82 per cent of the world’s elderly will be in the developing regions of Asia, Africa, Latin America and Caribbean while only 16 per cent of them will reside in the developed regions of Europe, US and Japan.