Chennai: GCC to set up geriatric care centres at three locations

The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has planned for the development of several Primary Health Centres (PHCs), including the setup of geriatric care centres and more accessibility via lifts and ACs for the aging population of the city.

Mayor R Priya said, “We reported an increase in senior citizens having age-related ailments. The centres will come up in PRN Garden of North Chennai, Sembiyam near Perambur and Thoraipakkam in South Chennai.” As per a report in The Times of India, these three centres will come up with an outlay of Rs 30 lakh each.

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Geriatric care centres

These centres are expected to offer assistance and medical care for joint pain, bone issues, mental health conditions and other age-related ailments. They will be using the medical care of both allopathic and holistic Indian medical practitioners.

The centres will employ a physiotherapy specialist, medical consultant and two medical assistants to help the patients. Mayor Priya added that all the urban PHCs will require a geriatric care centre for routine vaccinations, regular check-ups, and the treatment for communicable and non-communicable diseases.

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The standing committee’s chairman of health, Dr G Shanthakumari, said that this initiative will eventually be spread to other parts of the city. These centres will have a doctor and a nurse, as well as an in-patient facility to admit patients to. In the case of serious ailments, the patients will be referred to tertiary hospitals.

Accessibility in PHCs

In a bid to improve accessibility, the GCC has allocated over Rs 15 crore to improve healthcare services and infrastructure directly. Lifts will be installed in 22 PHCs across the city, at the cost of Rs 5 crore, as well as air-conditioned medical storage rooms at a cost of Rs 3 crore, to protect medicines being given free of charge. Rs 15 Crore has also been allocated to install generators at all of the burial grounds in the city.

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A new building at the urban health centre in Chintadripet has been planned at Rs 2.5 crore. The GCC will also set up a three-storey medical warehouse at Ambal Nagar, worth Rs 2.5 crore, according to media reports.

Fogger machines at the cost of Rs 10 lakh will be given to 19 maternity hospitals, to heighten infection control, along with defibrillators worth Rs 51 lakh to tackle cardiac emergencies.