Geriatric psychiatry services in Maharashtra

Abstract

India is currently home to 104 million elder, which comprise about 8.6% of the population of the country. This is only projected to increase to 20% by the year 2050. Among all elder in India, one in ten resides in Maharashtra. In addition, majority of the oldest old (above 80 years) reside in the state of Maharashtra. All these make it very important for the Government of Maharashtra to have a plan for elder care, besides the existing national policies. Ideal geriatric care services should be accessible, goal oriented, comprehensive, and accountable. Further, they should be integrated in the community for basic needs and also deliver specialty care. Maharashtra lacks in training, infrastructure, awareness of present schemes and policies, and implementation and execution of the National Programme for Health Care for the Elderly. Considering that we house the largest number of elder individuals in the country, it is time the state government took measures to implement urgent changes for elder care.

Keywords

• Geriatric
• Maharashtra
• mental health
• services