The Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the 6th International Geriatric Orthopaedic Society of India Conference at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi. The theme of the conference was “Increased Longevity with Reduced Fragility and Enhanced Mobility”.
Geriatrics, or geriatric medicine, is a specialty that focuses on health care of elderly people. It aims to promote health by preventing and treating diseases and disabilities in older adults. There is no set age at which patients may be under the care of a geriatrician, or geriatric physician, a physician who specializes in the care of elderly people. Rather, this decision is determined by the individual patient’s needs, and the availability of a specialist. It is important to note the difference between geriatrics, the care of aged people, and gerontology, which is the study of the aging process itself.
Due to economic progress in the country, the elderly population is increasing at great pace which is expected to touch 30 crore by 2050. Thus we also need to increase the health facilities for them. For this, the Government will establish around 1,50,000 Wellness Centres and Sub Centres across the country.
The President of the International Geriatric Orthopaedic Society of India, Dr.John Ebnezar, the Dean and Acting Director of AIIMS, Dr. V K Bahl also addressed the conference.
The first national conference of the Geriatric Orthopedic Society of India (GOSI) was held at Bangalore in 2013.
Fragility fractures have become a worldwide epidemic that has necessitated a paradigm shift in how we approach the care for elderly orthopaedic patients. There is a great need for subspecialty trained orthopaedic surgeons to help bridge the gap and help with transition of care in geriatric orthopaedic patients.
Geriatric Orthopedic Society of India was formed in 2013 due to following reasons:
1. Due to the ever increasing average life span of people in India, there is a large chunk of geriatric population
2. Geriatric orthopedic problems are on the rise and consists of geriatric trauma, geriatric diseases, malignancies, osteoporosis etc
3. Geriatric patients form a big chunk of patients visiting a orthopedicians clinics
4. A Separate society is required to cater to this big chunk of population in terms of service, training and orientation programs
5. Doctors need to be separately trained and sensitized towards the treatment and care of geriatric patients
6. To have our own news letter and magazine to be circulated among the doctors regarding the work and services related to geriatric group of patients
7. To interact with the various medical journals and promote the interests of the geriatric patients
8. Preventive geriatrics is neglected entity and lots need to be done to prevent the orthopedic problems in this age groups
9. To carry out educative programs and camps particularly in the old age homes to create awareness among this population
10. Geriatric orthopedic disorders are a problem to manage because unlike in other Age groups, elderly patients suffer from depression, loneliness, bereavement, financial and economic crisis and physical and mental frailties too. All these require a change in the way we look at and treat these patients.