Geriatric Care
Geriatric care or elderly care is a medical subspecialty aimed to take care of the special needs of the elderly population. It can also be considered under general medicine though it is more related to internal medicine involving treatment of adults.
Medical needs of human beings vary with aging. It can be very complex and puzzling. In seniors, wear and tear of organs are more conspicuous that deserve special care. As a result, they are likely to suffer from more than one condition which remains obscured by unusual symptoms making diagnosis difficult.
Obesity, joint disease, cardiovascular ailments, diabetes, hypertension, vision and hearing problems, neurological degeneration, etc. are very common among the aged. Most importantly, recovery period and treatment response of geriatric people are not the same as with younger adults.
Global geriatric population above 60 years of age is 962 million. Although India has a younger population with 70 million elderly people, improved healthcare has been shooting up life expectancies. On the other hand, higher healthcare and insurance costs in the US and other developed nations are driving a substantial geriatric population to consider medical tourism in India.