Pune district gets its first geriatric unit with OPD services & 10 beds for elderly care
In a first-of-its-kind initiative of the public health department, a dedicated geriatric unit for the elderly has been set up at Aundh District Hospital (ADH), Pune, which is scheduled to be inaugurated next month. This is the only centre in Pune district developed under the National Programme for Health Care for the Elderly (NPHCE), a ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW) scheme for provision of comprehensive healthcare services to the elderly, officials said.
According to officials, the unit has been developed within the district hospital campus. The work is at the end-stage and currently, minor electrical work and painting is in progress. The unit will have a geriatric clinic with regular dedicated outpatient department (OPD) services for the elderly and a 10-bed geriatric ward for in-patient care. Facilities will be made available for laboratory investigations for the diagnosis and provision of medicines for geriatric medical and health problems.
Existing specialties such as General Medicine, Orthopaedics, Ophthalmology and ENT among others will be provided. The health department is also in talks with private organisation/s to set up additional services at the unit, free-of-cost, officials said. The geriatric unit will provide services to elderly patients referred by primary health centres and similar facilities in the district. Besides, health camps for geriatric patients will be held by the unit in the district.
Dr Nagnath Yempalle, Pune district civil surgeon and head of ADH, said that in the past few years, there has been a rise in the number and proportion of the geriatric population.
'The unit has been developed as per the directions of the MoHFW to provide a comprehensive health care setup completely dedicated to the elderly. The services are designed to provide preventive, curative and rehabilitative services to geriatric patients,' he said.
Dr Yempalle further said that the unit is the need of the hour considering the surge in non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and social care required by the elderly.
'Disabilities due to NCDs are common in the elderly, which affect mobility, compromising the ability to carry out day-to-day activities. Besides, we will soon write to the director's office requesting additional dedicated staff for the unit,' he said.
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