National Programme for the Health Care for the Elderly

The National Programme for the Health Care for the Elderly (NPHCE) is an articulation of the International and national commitments of the Government as envisaged under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), National Policy on Older Persons (NPOP) adopted by the Government of India in 1999 & Section 20 of “The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007” dealing with provisions for medical care of Senior Citizen.

Vision

• To provide accessible, affordable, and high-quality long-term, comprehensive and dedicated care services to an Ageing population;
• Creating a new “architecture” for Ageing;
• To build a framework to create an enabling environment for “a Society for all Ages”;
• To promote the concept of  Active and Healthy Ageing;

Specific Objectives

• To provide an easy access to promotional, preventive, curative and rehabilitative services to the elderly through community based primary health care approach
• To identify health problems in the elderly and provide appropriate health interventions in the community with a strong referral backup support.
• To build capacity of the medical and paramedical professionals as well as the care-takers within the family for providing health care to the elderly.
• To provide referral services to the elderly patients through district hospitals, regional medical institutions
• Convergence with National Rural Health Mission, AYUSH and other line departments like Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

Core Strategies

• Community based primary health care approach including domiciliary visits by trained health care workers.
• Dedicated services at PHC/CHC level including provision of machinery, equipment, training, additional human resources (CHC), IEC, etc
• Dedicated facilities at District Hospital with 10 bedded wards, additional human resources, machinery & equipment, consumables & drugs, training and IEC
• Strengthening of 8 Regional Medical Institutes to provide dedicated tertiary level medical facilities for the Elderly, introducing PG courses in Geriatric Medicine, and in-service training of health personnel at all levels
• Information, Education & Communication (IEC) using mass media, folk media and other communication channels to reach out to the target community
• Continuous monitoring and independent evaluation of the Programme and research in Geriatrics and implementation of NPHCE

Supplementary Strategies

• Promotion of public private partnerships in Geriatric Health Care.
• Mainstreaming AYUSH – revitalizing local health traditions, and convergence with programmes of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in the field of geriatrics.
• Reorienting medical education to support geriatric issues.

Expected Outcomes

• Regional Geriatric Centres (RGC) in 8 Regional Medical Institutions by setting up Regional Geriatric Centres with a dedicated Geriatric OPD and 30-bedded Geriatric ward for management of specific diseases of the elderly, training of health personnel in geriatric health care and conducting research;
• Post-graduates in Geriatric Medicine (16) from the 8 regional medical institutions;
• Video Conferencing Units in the 8 Regional Medical Institutions to be utilized for capacity building and mentoring;
• District Geriatric Units with dedicated Geriatric OPD and 10-bedded Geriatric ward in 80-100 District Hospitals;
• Geriatric Clinics/Rehabilitation units set up for domiciliary visits in Community/Primary Health Centres in the selected districts;
• Sub-centres provided with equipment for community outreach services;
• Training of Human Resources in the Public Health Care System in Geriatric Care.

Source: Ministry of Health & Family Welfare