To set up two institutes of ageing at national level to address their health-related problems
Taking cue from the USA and Japan, the Narendra Modi Government has decided to set up two institutes of ageing at the national level for the first time to address multi-faceted health-related problems of the country’s needy elderly population which is set to increase to 32 crore in next thirty years.
“These will be called the National Institute of Ageing which will conduct and support research on ageing and the health and well-being of older people. The Institutes will seek to understand the nature of ageing and the ageing process, and diseases and conditions associated with growing older, in order to extend the healthy, active years of life,” said a senior official from the Health Ministry.
He said that the tentative locations for the institutes are in Delhi and Chennai, but a final decision is yet to be taken in this regard. These will be set up under the National Programme for Health Care for the Elderly (NPHCE) launched during the 11th five year plan, said the official adding that the institutions will be on the line of those in the USA and Japan which are witnessing increasing number of elderly people due to higher life expectancy rate.
The need for setting up these institutes was felt as Projection studies indicate that the number of 60+ in India will increase to 100 million in 2013 and to 198 million in 2030. Since a majority (80 per cent) of them are in the rural areas, making service delivery to them is a challenge.
Also, 51 per cent of the elderly population would be women by the year 2016 while there increase in the number of the older-old (persons above 80 years) and a large percentage (30 per cent) of the elderly are below poverty line.
But unfortunately, the official said that there is huge shortage of human resources in the medical sector to take care of this population. Under graduate and postgraduate geriatric courses are grossly deficient in the country. These two proposed institutes aims to take care of these needs besides ensuring research and investment in the sector.
According to Helpage, an organization working for the welfare of elderly population in the country, a report by the United Nations Population Fund has found the number of people over 60 years in India will increase from around 100 million today (approx.) to more than 324 million by 2050. It also predicted the number of people over 80 years will increase sevenfold.