Cal Medical College & Hosp starts geriatric medicine dept
kolkata: For the first time in the Eastern India, the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) has launched a dedicated geriatric medicine department to provide specialised treatment to the elderly patients, who have been suffering from various ailments. MD courses in geriatric medicine will soon be introduced at the hospital, sources said.
A dedicated geriatric department with an initial capacity of 30 beds has been introduced at the fifth floor of NCB Bhavan of the CMCH.
An outpatient department (OPD) for geriatric has also been opened at the hospital. Around 15 beds have been dedicated for male elderly patients whereas the remaining 15 beds were dedicated for women elderly patients. Patients requiring OPD consultations on geriatric issues can avail treatment from the newly set up geriatric OPD ward of the hospital on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Specialised geriatric training has been initiated by the hospital for doctors, nursing professionals and healthcare staff.
"Around 5 beds have also been kept for the geriatric patients at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The step has been taken so that the elderly patients can be given comprehensive treatment. This is for the first time in Eastern India, any government medical college has introduced a dedicated geriatric medicine department for holistic treatment of the elderly citizens," a senior official of the hospital said.
It will provide a comprehensive geriatric assessment to address all-round needs of a patient and recommend the best treatment for them. According to sources, the main focus areas of the dedicated department would be preventing and managing fractures, dizziness, memory loss, depression, psychological revitalisation, vaccinations, fatigue, unsteadiness or weakness, physiotherapy, diet counselling and medicine management. Health issues of elderly patients are often neglected as they avoid visiting a doctor unless it is an absolute urgency.
There are not enough doctors who are willing to visit these patients at home. It has been found that many elderly people have been living in residential apartments alone in the city and they often become too feeble to visit a doctors' chamber in the locality. Many of them are found to have been deserted by their sons or daughters who are settled outside the state or abroad.
After coming to power the Mamata Banerjee government laid stress on the development of infrastructure on geriatric medicine keeping all these issues in mind. The state government has been contemplating to set up more dedicated units to provide comprehensive care exclusively for the elderly and also to understand their medical background and offer them customised care.
