- senior citizen count growing at 3x normal population (3% vs 1% pa)
- currently 10.5% elderly
Ageing dilemma
- structural transition of care from community / extended family to formal state & market institutions
- long lifespan but short healthspan (i.e. duration of life lived free from chronic diseases)
- reduced cognitive capacity
- early onset of NCD in India
Structural vulnerability
- excessive hospital centricity rather than home based care
- feminization of ageing
- economic inequality in preventive medicine
- shrinking demographic dividend & caregiver shortage
Policy intervention
- universal social security & health protection eg. Ayushman Bharat
- National Programme for Health Care of the Elderly
- National CoE in Geriatrics at RML
- grassroots community health eg. via Ayushman Arogya Mandir
- Senior care ageing growth engine portal (SAGE)
What more can be done
- decentralize community led geriatric care
- institutionalize preventive physical regimen - resistance training
- deploy assistive frontier tech eg. robots
- promote functional inter generational integration