Initiatives of a corporate health provider in India to improve quality care

<p>O P Sharma</p>

Initiatives of a corporate health provider in India to improve quality care

O P Sharma

Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, India

: J Aging Geriatr Med

Abstract

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) holistic definition of Health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” has been widely accepted as being more appropriate, when ascribed to older people. When we talk of older persons, the attention is focused towards ageing which is a progressive, generalized impairment of functions resulting in loss of adaptive response to stress and increased risk of age-related diseases and disabilities.1 At the time of Independence of the country, life expectancy at birth was 37 years which has risen to 68 years currently & currently absolute number is 112 Million. Indian Council of Medical Research has published chronic morbidity profile in the elderly in rural & urban areas. Currently we have more than 25 thousand PHCs, 900 District Hospitals, Govt. Tertiary Care Hospitals, 460 Medical Colleges Hospitals, PSU Hospitals, Military Hospitals, 1.3 Lakhs Private Practitioners besides other systems of medical treatment like Ayurveda, Unani, Homoeopathy, Naturopathy etc. for our entire population of 1.33 billion. We have Geriatric Clinics & wards at many places in India. The Government2 & Apollo Group of Hospitals3 which is a leading corporate health provider has facilities for elderly care. Apollo focuses not only on care but also on preventive health checkups thereby early diagnosis of diseases contributing to positive health.