Under the NPHCE, post-graduate training for medical doctors in geriatric medicine has been initiated in a few centres and the Medical Council of India recognised the MD course in Palliative medicine in 2012. In addition, post-graduate diploma programmes in gerontology are available for graduates from disciplines other than health (UNESCAP, 2016). While there has been progress in geriatric and gerontology training in India, training for staff engaged in other roles in care homes, such as administration and service delivery still have significant gaps (Johnson et al., 2017).

Although, the long-term care workforce system is not well organised, a few training institutions as part of the government, private sector, and universities offer programmes and coordinate employment opportunities for formal caregivers. The Ministry of Social Justice provides financial support to institutions for training geriatric workers and formal caregivers through the National Institute of Social Defence (NISD). However, there is a need to standardise the content and evaluate the quality of these courses (UNESCAP, 2016). There are other various non-governmental and private sector operators, for example Nightingales medical trust, ARDSI etc., which offer training and other innovative long-term care programmes (Nightingales Medical Trust, 2014; ARDSI, 2015).

References:

Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Society of India (ARDSI). (2015). Alzheimer’s and Related disorders Society of India (ARDSI).

Johnson, S., Madan, S., Vo, J., Pottkett, A. (2017). A qualitative analysis of the emergence of long term care (old age home) sector for seniors care in India: Urgent call for quality and care standards. Ageing International, 43(3), 356–365. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-017-9302-x

Nightingales Medical Trust. (2014). TRAININGS AT NIGHTINGALES MEDICAL TRUST.

UNESCAP. (2016). Long-term Care of Older Persons in India. Available from: https://www.unescap.org/resources/long-term-care-older-persons-india