Life Expectancy across the globe is increasing. As a result people are living to be older. The requirements of elderly people are different from the other adults.Their systems become weaker, the muscles loose strength, many have multiple diseases etc.
As a result, the care that is required to take care of them also has to be designed or structured keeping in mind the frailty of the body and mind.
With advancements in medical and nursing fields it had been noticed that globally phenomenon of ageing is going to be entirely an experience of attention. Health care providers including all stakeholders have to pay an extra ordinary interest to formulate a comprehensive and systematical elderly care.
Geriatric Medicine is a large, solid base of knowledge that explains the differences in normal physiologic function and disease in older adults as compared with younger individuals. In addition, Geriatric Medicine is geared more toward restoring and maintaining cognitive status and day-to-day physical function rather than toward curing diseases.
Geriatric care is now forecasted as a vital need of the ageing population where the development of health care system needs special consideration.
Geriatric medicine aims to promote health by preventing and treating diseases and disabilities in older adults that’s why this field requires elaborate consultations and time commitment since elder people generally have multiple ailments together and need a holistic, comprehensive treatment plan.
Many people are surprised to discover that Geriatric Medicine is actually a medical specialty because a Geriatrician is considered a primary care provider. A primary care provider is not most individuals’ idea of a specialist. The usual concept of a specialist is a physician who focuses on a specific area of the body, such as the heart, lungs, or kidneys. As a specialist in Geriatric Medicine, Geriatricians focus on the ageing minds and bodies of people and how age-related changes affect their abilities to continue to function on a day-to-day basis.
CATEGORISATION OF GERIATRIC PATIENTS
A geriatric patient is an older person with impaired overall function. Ideally there is no set age, but he or she is usually more than 75 years old with chronic illness(es), physical impairment and/or cognitive impairment.
Geriatric Medicine generally divides elders into 3 chronologic groups:
- The young-old (ages 60 to 69 years)
- The middle-old (ages 70 to 79 years)
- The oldest-old (age over 80 years)
The field of geriatrics has advanced when the doctors realised that the elderly patients respond differently to treatment and have different goals than a patient in their 40s-50s. Many of these people can live fulfilling lives well into their 90s if taken care of well.
GERIATRIC CARE IN PAKISTAN
There is very little to almost no services for the ageing, and no programs of Geriatrics in Pakistan.
The current health care system and the nursing education, training and services system in Pakistan is not well established and does not provide a comprehensive care system which may meet the needs of elderly population. The increasing number of older people worldwide is getting a considerable attention globally. The challenges and issues faced in Pakistan become more serious due to the limited resources, lack of focused care system and deficiency of awareness of the concerned issue.
With an increasing number of 11.3 million senior citizens making up 5.7% of Pakistan’s population, elderly care in Pakistan needs to be emphasised more vigorously as ageing population is deprived of resources and a systemic framework with a comprehensive care designed especially for this vulnerable group.
It is imperative for the government to allocate resources to provide and improve geriatric care, and that families are made aware of the benefits of outsourcing care.
It is therefore essential to recognise and manage their health conditions appropriately.
Hence Patients of the elderly group are best managed by specially trained Geriatric Care providers but the problem is that the Health care providers are deficient in their training to deal with special health care issues facing the elderly patients .
There exists a need for training programs and courses to improve the knowledge and skills of health care providers, deal proficiently with common health issues among elderly.
Geriatric home care services need to be provided at a larger scale in Pakistan, to be able to cater to a wider audience.
This rising geriatric population is expected to offer fresh challenges to health care providers in near future.
Health care delivery in Pakistan is based on a weak infra-structure resulting in neglect of elderly population. Lack of residential and rehabilitation facilities for older population in the country, offers a great challenge for the existing weak and fragile infrastructure.
As a result, a need for availability of Care Giver to maintain and improve function and better quality of life among these dependent individuals becomes necessary.
Family support system which is an integral part of our society and plays a very important role in elderly care should be made stronger by making people realise ageing as a normal phase of life and increasing aware ness among them regarding elderly care men and their needs.
Extended family system in Pakistan helps provide opportunity to family members to act as care givers to elderly living with them. This care giving leads to greater satisfaction among them in comparison to care provided by paid care givers.
In present era of economic recession with increasing financial constraints on the individual families, extended family model is being replaced by nuclear family model which is further deteriorating the situation.
Care of elderly puts an enormous responsibility on the care givers and health care providers. They have to provide physical assistance to the elderly for their daily functioning in addition to fulfilling financial, social and spiritual needs.
Finally, we can learn from the West and create community centres with day-care facilities where trained workers can also provide counselling to those in need. It is time to plan and implement a comprehensive and cost effective health care strategy for vulnerable, marginalised and resource deficient elderly population by government and private agencies, covering their medical, physical, social, psychological and spiritual needs.
All of this shows that it is possible to ameliorate and refine geriatric care in Pakistan, if the right steps are taken by the government and physicians.
