Tamil Nadu   

State to press for upgrading Madras Medical College geriatrics department

— Photo: S. Thanthoni

useful tool: Health Minister M.R.K. Panneer Selvam handing over a handbook on guidelines for common surgical interventions in the elderly to Health Secretary V.K. Subburaj in Chennai on Friday.

CHENNAI: The State Government will take up with the Centre the issue of upgrading the geriatrics department at the Madras Medical College as a state-of-the-art institute of excellence, Health Minister M. R. K. Panneerselvam said here on Friday.

Releasing a handbook on guidelines for common surgical interventions in the elderly, Mr. Panneerselvam said the nearest opportunity for pressing the case of the oldest geriatrics unit in the country was on November 20 when a high-level meeting was scheduled to discuss the quantum of Central aid required to improve healthcare in Tamil Nadu.

The elderly constituted six per cent of Tamil Nadu’s population. The Government, he said, was committed to providing this segment with social security. Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, who exemplified active ageing, doubled the old age pension to Rs.400 some time ago. The Minister said he would ensure that copies of the book were made available at tertiary, primary and secondary-level health centres.

The book, edited by R. Veerapandian, head of the geriatric surgery unit of the Madras Medical College, was brought out as a joint project of the Government of India and the World Health Organisation. Spanning 20 chapters, it has two sections, covering clinical, ethical and social issues of healthcare for the elderly.

Health Secretary V. K. Subburaj urged doctors to focus more on research and documentation of the diverse case load at government institutions. Director of Medical Education Thiagavalli Kirubakaran said the effort at bringing out the handbook was all the more precious as accomplished physicians with writing skills were none too common in the medical profession.

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