Karnataka govt to setup dedicated institute for geriatric care

The state government will soon set up a dedicated institute for geriatric care to address old age-related issues.

Considering the population of aging and the life span increase, the department of medical education has decided to set up a medical institute for geriatric care. Currently, though there are 17 government medical college and hospitals in the state, only one institute has a dedicated ward for geriatric care.

The Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) in Bengaluru is the only government institute in the state to dedicate a ward for senior citizens’ care. “When I was the director for medical education, we started a ward for geriatric care at BMCRI and this is the only ward available in the state at government institutions to cater senior citizens and age-related problems,” said Dr Sachidanand, vice chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences.

Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar discussed the idea of setting up a dedicated hospital for geriatric care with the authorities of RGUHS during his recent visit to the university. As it was also discussed that the government is looking at establishing the institute on 25 acres of land. However, the government is not restricted to set up the institute in Bengaluru.

“Currently, we have institutes for cancer care, neuro care, child care and cardio care. It is time to care about elders and having a dedicated hospital for senior citizens will help in identifying age-related problems at the primary stage and provide medicine,” said a senior official of the medical education department.

The first meeting of Vision Group for Healthcare, headed by Dr Devi Shetty of Narayana Hospitals, had also discussed the importance of geriatric care.

Institute for dermatology

The department is also looking at taking up the already announced dermatology institute project in 2020-21. A dedicated institute for dermatology care to address skin-related issues was announced in the state budget two years ago. But due to the unavailability of land it was put on hold. Now, the minister has directed department officials to start the process to establish a dermatology institute.