Karnataka - Gulbarga   

‘Neglect of elderly is culturally harmful’

GULBARGA: Influence of Western culture has led to neglect of elderly persons by the youth, chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Office of Profit Bill Iqbal Ahmed Saradgi has said.

He was speaking after inaugurating the two-day all-India conference of the Geriatric Society of India at the Mahadevappa Rampure Medical College Auditorium here on Saturday.

Mr. Saradgi, who is also chairman of the All India Haj Committee, said that Indian culture fostered a joint family system where elderly people were being cared for by all the members of the family.

The Western culture of sending elderly people to old age homes was having its impact on Indians too he said.

Mr. Saradgi lauded the efforts made by the Geriatric Society of India (GSI) in taking up the issues concerning aged persons.

Mr. Saradgi lauded the decision of the Hyderabad- Karnataka Education Society (HKES) to start a postgraduate course in geriatrics in the Mahadevappa Rampure Medical College from the next academic year.Geriatricsshould be taught as a subject in the undergraduate level in medical education, he said. Aged persons constituted nearly nine per cent of the country’s total population. The Government should address the problem of their neglect by the families immediately.

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