President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday says it will establish regional geriatric centres at the tertiary health institutions for clinical care.
Buhari who was represented by the Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole said this at the ” 1st National Summit on Healthy Ageing in Abuja.
He said that there would be training of healthcare workforce through effective collaboration and the technical support of international organisations.
According to him, there would be research on chronic diseases of the aged and community based health -social support.
”We would ensure that resources and support are provided to enable us achieve the desired results.
”We are aware that some states give free healthcare services to under-fives and women, we hope to extend these services to people over the age of 60 years.
”We must make healthcare services available to our senior citizens as part of the government appreciation and social responsibility and a way of recognising their immense contributions to national development,” he said
The President therefore urged the Federal Ministry of Health to continue with the implementation of healthcare for the aged programme in addition to providing leadership in their work with states and development partners.
Dr Sam Jaja, Chairman, University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, said that the aim of the summit was to discuss the truth and beauty of healthy ageing, with emphasis on geriatric medicine.
According to him, Nigeria ranked 86th among 96 countries in the global age index 2015, which ranked countries by how well their older populations were faring. The index covers 91 per cent of the world’s population of those aged 60 and above.(NAN)