The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has set out to rejuvenate the health of Elderly people and nourish their lifestyle in the nation’s capital.
Talking to Mail Today, Dr Prasun Chatterjee, Professor of Geriatric Medicine at AIIMS said, “Pneumonia is one of the diseases which is overlooked in elderly people. Therefore, we have planned to vaccinate 300 old people against pneumonia staying at Old Age Homes.”
AIIMS doctors will be tackling not only pneumonia but also cancer.
Over the years, the incidence of Cancer has reportedly been on the rise. According to the ICMR’s (Indian Council of Medical Research) National Cancer Registry Program, the median age of cancer diagnosis is 54.0 years in males and 52.4 years in females. And the highest number of cancer cases recorded from Indian states were from Haryana at 39.6 % followed by Delhi at 27.3 %.
“Over 60 per cent of the cancer cases are coming from patients above 60 and most of these, if detected in time, are curable. Most of these patients visit the hospitals when it is too late for any treatment,” said Dr Chatterjee told DNA.
Doctors visiting the old age homes for pneumonia vaccinations will also examine the residents for cancer symptoms, hoping to diagnose any patients in time.
This initiative for the elderly has come after another one that was introduced last year. The Geriatric Department of AIIMS had conducted a study in several old-age homes in Delhi and NCR, which revealed that 80 per cent of the residents of these institutions were devoid of any health facility.
As a result of this study, AIIMS had announced an initiative of adopting 50 elderly people in dire need of healthcare to be given proper treatment, a report in India Today magazine at the time said.
(Edited by Shruti Singhal)
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