Elderly Indians travel an average of 14.5 km to see a doctor: Lancet Studies
On average, aging adults in India travel about 14.5 km and about 44 km to see a doctor for regular check-ups, when they need to be hospitalized.
According to a new lensate study, older adults in many parts of India travel about 14.5 km to see a doctor for regular check-ups (outpatient care) and about 44 km.
As India’s population grows rapidly, the study conducted by the country’s apex medical research agency highlights how big adults in the country are struggling to reach basic health services, mainly because health facilities are far away.
The number of people aged 60 and above in India has increased from 7.4% population in 2001 to an estimated 13.2% by 2031. It is today about 138 million old adults, about half of which live with chronic diseases that require ongoing medical care.
As the age of the people, they usually need to see doctors more often, not only for check-up, but also for immediate issues. But for many old Indians, especially living in rural or remote areas, reaching a doctor is a challenge in itself.
Scientists at the Indian Council of Medical Research used data from India’s longitudinal aging study (2017-18), which covered more than 31,000 old adults, to understand how far they travel to healthcare.
The study showed that rural seniors were to travel about 28 km for basic check-ups, while urban seniors usually helped within 10 km.
This difference becomes even wider when it stays in the hospital, elderly people in rural areas travel almost twice in urban areas. When it comes to going to the hospital, most of them use their own transportation, and only 5% use ambulances, whether they live.
When the hospitals or clinics were within 10 km, 73% used outpatient care and 40% accessed in -post services.
But when the distance was more than 30 km, the outpatient attack fell to only 10%.
Outpattle services refer to medical care or treatment that a person does not need to stay in a hospital. This includes regular check-ups, consultation with doctors, clinical testing, or minor procedures, after which the patient can go home the same day.
In contrast, in -presentation services include entry into the hospital for at least one night or more. This usually requires surgery, serious diseases, or when a person needs continuous monitoring or treatment.
For some groups, like older women, for low education, low income, or people living alone, the drop was even more important. According to the United Nations Population Fund, India’s elderly population is estimated to reach 20% of the total population by 2050, in which women have made a large part of those living alone.
Poonam Mutreza, Executive Director of the Population Foundation, who was not involved in the study, commented that since the women in this group “are not only deprived of” not only “, but also by gender, income and separation, community health workers should be empowered to regularly examine such individuals.
“Health systems should collect and respond to data separated from gender, age and socio-economic status,” Matreja explained India Today Digital.
The situation is worse in hilly states and remote areas. In Nagaland, Mizoram and Himachal Pradesh, more than one -third of older adults had to travel more than 60 km for in -post care.
Such a distance, Matreza said, affects the health of the elderly, especially for those who suffer from chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and arthritis.
“Delayed treatment leads to complications, hospitalization and unnecessary pain. For elderly women, people living alone, and from low-ay houses, effects are complicated by limited mobility, financial obstacles and social isolation. When care is difficult to reach away and difficult, many people are forced to choose between their health and their needs.”
Even in center areas such as Jammu and Kashmir and Lakshadweep, access to pass care is extremely limited. The study suggested that India immediately requires better transport support for older people, especially in rural areas.
Simple solutions such as community transport services, mobile health vans and home-based care can create a big difference. Mutreza said that focusing on secondary-level healthcare can also help reduce distance.
He said, “Investments in physical infrastructure are fine, but human resource policies such as offering encouragement for rural service, upgrading medical colleges in small cities and competing telehalate links between primary health centers and district hospitals can solve such challenges,” he said.
The study suggested that local health centers should be strengthened under the Ayushman Aogya Temple (government -owned health facility center) as they can also help reduce long -range travel requirement, which can make healthcare more inclusive for India’s aging population.
