Consultant Geriatrician at Shifa International Hospital Dr. Shahzad Khan said in an exclusive interview with Pakistan Today on Friday that with around 10 million of the Pakistani population comprising of elderly persons, the 0.6 percent share in the health budget is contributing towards the geriatrics (various diseases of old people) among this increasing demographic of the population.
Dr. Shahzad said that the average life span among elderly persons in Pakistan (63-64 years) was growing and there would be more demand of health care facilities for them in the years ahead.
Dr. Shahzad highlighted that most of our health budget spending revolved around the maternal care, mother-child health care programs, HIV campaigns, various type of vaccinations and epidemics, however this important aspect related to the geriatrics treatments remained an ignorant subject.
Dr. Sania R Sabazwari from the Department of Family Medicine of the Aga Khan University Hospital was of the view that with increasing life span across the world, Pakistan was also experiencing a rise in its elderly population, adding that “With meager resources and a poor understanding of aging, the country faces many challenges in caring for its elderly population.”
She further said that life expectancy here had risen by almost three decades in the last fifty years and would reach close to 72 years by 2023. She said that for a country with restricted resources, dealing with a medically and socially vulnerable population would pose a great challenge.
Mrs. Akram 61, who recently received a minor heart stroke, said that she was suffering from diabetics, joint pains, thyroid, blood pressure, neurological issue and now the heart problem for which she had consulted various doctors and often their medicines were not compatible with each other.
Responding to a question, Mrs Akram mentioned that she was not aware of the ‘Geriatrics’ or any doctor who could treat all the issues at the same time and could also suggest compatible medicines.
This showed the lack of awareness of the general population about geriatricians as well as specialized medical practitioners in our society.
Presently, there were only two geriatricians in Pakistan, where as foreign trained doctors in geriatrics were less than five as compared to the United States (U.S) where the number of consultant geriatricians was 7,000.
Keeping this in view, Dr. Shahzad disclosed that a first geriatric society had been established in Pakistan for the purpose and it had contacted The Collage of Physicians and Surgeons to start a fellowship in geriatrics to train doctors for the future.
According to estimates, above 73 percent of Pakistanis were unable to pay for the health care facilities out of their pockets, where as the various kinds of pressures, diseases, hygiene conditions, environmental hazards, cultural and social taboos drove them to become prey for multiple diseases in their old age.
Unlike other developed countries where the elderly persons would be facilitated with various free of cost health facilities depending upon their strong tax collection and distribution systems, the conditions were worst for those crossing their 50’s here in Pakistan with high medical treatments costs, increasing medicine prices, shortage of medical specialists, over burdened hospitals, poor health facilities and lack of strong health policies, and above all less coverage of social protection funds for them .
Health experts were of the view that despite the fact that the recent national health policies included the training of primary care doctors in geriatrics, provision of domiciliary care, dental care, and multi-tiered system for health care providers for elderly including social workers, physical therapists; however there was no proper practice implementation of those policies.
The policy makers of the country would have to focus on the rapidly rising elderly population. It would be essential to analyze their health needs and to fix some reasonable share from the health budget to improve medical facilities/treatments for them.
