Psychiatric Morbidity in Old Age: A Multi Centre Study to Assess the Needs (in Sindh)

Objectives: Pakistan is one o f the most thickly populated Muslim countries. The unpredicted aging processbrings about challenges to the society and the health care system as well. In Pakistan the Psychiatrists haveto face lot many problems in managing elderly patients as Geriatric psychiatry has not even made its adventin this Country. Study Design: Observational Study.Methods: Three proformas was developed namely A, B, C. Proforma ™ assessed the demographic data alongwith inter categorization o f them into age groups. The proforma ™ was designed to assess the diagnosticbreakup among the age group o f proforma ™, while proforma ™ looked into the established psychiatricservices for elderly patients in psychiatry. The proformas were sent to all the Psychiatrists working in provinceo f Sindh, their feedback was collected giving them adequate time to put down all the cases seen by them from1st Jan: to 30th June 2006. Results: Have shown that more than 25000 patients attended the psychiatric facilities during the study inprovince of Sindh with different psychiatric disorders, without having any separate psychiatric facility to catertheir problems. Conclusion: This is alarming as at present there is no separate facility available to cater the ailing elderlypopulation in discipline o f psychiatry in our Province. This effort will discuss how we can improve this situation.