CHENNAI : The Indian Academy of Paediatrics organised a symposium on `Adolescent Health' to enhance the capacity building of paediatricianson adolescent friendly health care and services. The programme was held at the Apollo Centre of Excellence for Women, Kotturpuram.

The World Health Organisation had raised the age of paediatric care to 19 years. Radha Rajagopalan from Apollo Hospitals said that a paediatrician thus had to be a gynaecologist, dermatologist and psychiatrist all rolled in one. A health care provider who dealt with adolescents must be able to cater to the rapidly changing needs of the patient through adolescence, she said.

Adolescents need a person to confide in, they need proper knowledge and their "fantasies" had to be dispelled. They should also be able to look up to people they trust for further advice, said Dr. Rajagopalan.

She underlined the need for parents, teachers and health workers to be trained to give guidance to adolescents as they had a lot of issues to deal with other than health.

Rajesh Mehta, guest faculty from WHO, said general practitioners should also be trained to treat adolescents as most of them go to GPs.

Mangayarkarasi Senguttuvan, Director, Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Children, said adolescents not only had to deal with puberty. They also had psychological and social changes such as peer pressure too.

"When there is a deviation from these normal changes, there tends to be a problem," she said. She said understanding the importance of adolescent care started only in the late 90s in India, so it was important to spread awareness about adolescent care effectively, as it was a defining stage of the sort of person the child would grow into, both physically and mentally.

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