Dr Vedprakash Mishra, Top Brass of National Medical Commission, red flagged in National Conference on Geriatrics
Trissur (Kerala): India is bracing for a tsunami of seniors who will need healthcare. But nation’s healthcare is abysmally deficient in the face of impending multitude. Dr Vedprakash Mishra, Chief Advisor Lata Mangeshkar University Nagpur and Chairman, National Experts Panel of National Medical Commission (NMC0, Govt. of India, red flagged in a National Conference of the Geriatric Society of India. Dr Mishra painted such a picture of scarce resources available to meet the looming need as might make policy makers worried sick. As chief guest, Dr Mishra also cautioned that India might have to face the ignominy of neglecting its seniors if we fail to be battle ready when the crunch came.
The conference GSICON-2026 took place at hotel Hayatt in Trissur (Kerala) on October 4. Dr Vedprakash Mishra inaugurated the conference and delivered a keynote address on the theme – Face and Future of Geriatric Healthcare in India. His speech was a huge draw on audience’s acclaim. Dr Mishra did not mince words and stated the stark reality of India’s preparedness and pace of it for seniors.
Dr Mishra gave a worrying lowdown on how ready India is or preparing to be to meet humungous challenge we are inching towards. Dr Mishra said, ‘It has to be born in mind that one in every five Indians shall be over 60 years of age by 2050, which in the year 2023 is computed as one in every seven Indians. This is indicative of the magnitude of the requirement and need of Geriatric Healthcare in terms of numbers. The manpower deficit on the count of Geriatric Healthcare is significant in as much as that in terms of American geriatric society recommendations one geriatrician is need per 700 elderly individuals.’
Dr Mishra added, ‘On the basis of said ratio the Indian requirement of geriatricians by the year 2050 would be 59,000 geriatricians which as of now is roughly around 35,000 geriatricians as against which the present
operational number in India hovers around anywhere between 300-350 total geriatricians, which turns out to be barely 1% of the required manpower. This is true equally with reference to required number of trained nurses and para medical workers which are in the multiple of three times the number of geriatricians for nurses and 3 times respectively. This yawning gap is huge and substantial which results in compromised geriatric health care be dismal in nature. As regards avenues for postgraduate geriatric education amongst more than 75,000 seats which are available annually under the ambit of NMC in more than 700 medical schools, the number for MD Geriatrics is barely 31 as of now located in only 9 medical schools in this country. Further the longitudinal aging study in India (LASL) of the year 2020 brings out that 32% of the older adults have hypertension 14% with diabetes and 18% sufferer for arthritis with comorbidities as a norm, resulting in polypharmacy as a serious risk.
Dr Mishra concluded saying, ‘It has to be born that geriatric age group patients are not just patients but they are a population with unique and evolving needs that the present system is not fully equipped to meet. As such, a comprehensive integrated steps are required to be initiated in terms of shifting from acute diseases-oriented model towards comprehensive, person centered and continuous care model with commensurate budgetary allocation thereto in a planned manner lest problem and the magnitude remain unattended amounting to a grave neglect of the senior citizens of the country who all their lives contributed their best for the care and cause of the country and the society as a whole’.
