International Workshop on Health Care for the Elderly

Chandigarh, April 24, 2019: The Four day international workshop on “Health care for older population; learning from Indo-Canadian Experiences” was inaugurated today at ICSSR seminar hall, Panjab University Chandigarh. The workshop is a collaborative venture between Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada and Department of Geography, PU Chandigarh. The grant has been awarded by SICI under the Shastri Development Programme Grant funded by the Ministry of Human Resource Development jointly to Prof Smita Bhutani at Panjab University and Prof Rosenberg at Queen’s University.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof Raj Kumar, Vice Chancellor, P.U, appreciated the timely initiative which he felt was socially a very relevant issue. He stressed the need to take the collaboration further and learn from each other to the mutual benefit of both societies and cultures.
Prof Rosenberg, the Canadian collaborator while introducing the theme said ageing was one of the three major challenges being faced by a rapidly urbanising world. There was a requirement in this light to re-imagine health and social systems to make the elderly a happy and valued segment of our society.
Prof Nayak from NEHU, Shillong delivered the keynote address and talked about India’s traditional regard for the elderly which was gradually dwindling as the elderly were perceived as a burden in the family as well as in society at large. He brought out the need to take steps against abuse of the elderly, create aged-friendly infrastructure and increase the number of Gerontology units.
The Workshop will see the participation of research scholars, senior citizens, health care professionals, care-givers, academicians and non-governmental organisations. It will include 4 technical sessions and three activity sessions along with field visits to old-age homes and hospitals.
The day concluded with a vote of thanks proposed by Prof Simrit Kahlon, Chairperson, Department of Geography.