Indian Academy of Geriatrics

President’s Message
Indian Academy of Geriatrics

Dear colleagues and friends,

Since its founding in 2002, the Indian Academy of Geriatrics (IAG) has worked to improve the health and quality of life of older Indians and to advance research on ageing in India. As President, my foremost priority is to strengthen the Academy’s academic work and bring practical training in geriatric medicine to the physicians whom older people see first.

UNFPA projections place India’s population aged 60 years and above at approximately 19.2 crore by 2030 and 34.7 crore by 2050. By mid-century, roughly one in five Indians will be aged 60 or older. Meeting their needs will require many more geriatricians. It also requires us to support the primary care physicians who already care for older people in villages, towns and cities across the country. (india.unfpa.org, india.unfpa.org⁠)

During my tenure, I am initiating a national geriatric skills programme for primary care physicians, with opportunities for medical interns, internists and colleagues from other specialties to participate. An older person may come to a clinic after a fall. Alongside treating the injury, the physician needs to ask whether a medicine contributed, whether the person can still walk safely to the bathroom and what support is available at home. Through case discussions, supervised practice and mentorship by geriatricians, I want clinicians to gain confidence in comprehensive geriatric assessment and use it to make decisions with patients and families.

This learning must reach the whole care team. Through our state chapters, geriatricians and trained primary care physicians can lead local teaching sessions with nurses, physiotherapists, psychologists and other health professionals. Each brings knowledge that the others need. Learning together will help teams recognise early changes in an older person’s health or independence, agree on a plan and pass those skills on to colleagues and trainees.

Our annual GERICON, continuing medical education programmes, quarterly peer-reviewed journal and Student Chapter provide a strong foundation for this work. I want to build on it through hands-on postgraduate workshops, research mentorship for young geriatricians and multicentre studies that address questions arising in Indian clinics and communities. I would like every postgraduate who brings a difficult case to GERICON to leave with a skill they can use on their next ward round and a colleague they can turn to for advice.

I will also work with our state chapters to make a coordinated case to the Union and state governments, the National Medical Commission and the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences for more MD and DNB seats in Geriatric Medicine. We will advocate for more government and private medical colleges to establish geriatric medicine departments and expand MD training, and for eligible corporate hospitals to start accredited DNB programmes. Our proposals must address faculty and clinical supervision so that every new seat offers a trainee the teaching and bedside experience the specialty demands.

I invite every member of the Academy to play a part in this work. A geriatrician who mentors a family physician can shape the care of older people far beyond a single clinic. A medical college that trains its first geriatrician can give an entire district a clinician, a teacher and an advocate for older people. My hope is that wherever an older person in India seeks care, they will find a team that takes the time to understand what matters to them and has the skills to help them live with dignity and independence. That is the promise I want us to fulfil together.

Warm regards,
Prof. (Dr.) Prasun Chatterjee
President, Indian Academy of Geriatrics
2026–2028