Dedicated healthcare centres for elderly launched

Apollo Hospitals today launched a dedicated centre for well-being and good health of elderly people in six major cities, including Delhi and Chennai.
'Apollo Elder Care' will be a one-stop centre to address physical, psychological, medicinal and financial concerns of an elderly patient and his caregivers.
In the first phase of the launch, the services will be available across Apollo Hospitals in Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Delhi and Bhubaneswar.
"The elderly often suffer from more than one medical problem and have conditions that can be obscured by unusual symptoms. At Apollo, we felt that elderly care needs a special environment and attention that can help them improve their functional ability, physical health, cognition and mental health," said Dr Hariprasad, President, Apollo Hospitals Group.

"India is ageing fast as birth rates go down and life expectancy increases; the percentage of elderly population is likely to treble by 2050.
"The shift in demographics brings in variety of social, economic and healthcare challenges. Healthcare for the elderly needs special attention and government policies," Dr O P Sharma, Senior Consultant in Geriatric Medicine, Apollo Hospitals said.
"Though population ageing is a global phenomenon, India faces a specific demographic challenge with about eight per cent of the population over the age of 65 in 2014, and with this number is expected to grow up to 20 per cent by 2050.

"This necessitates healthy ageing as a chief prerequisite for the Indian population, and a holistic approach to their health needs is one of the current focus of the Indian health sector," Hariprasad said.