The first-ever customised and dedicated geriatrics ward in any tertiary healthcare institution in the 19 Northern states was commissioned at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), Kano, on August 13, 2024.
The 25-bed multi-million naira facility is named Hajiya Ruayya Hassan Geriatrics Ward in honour of the mother of Alhaji Shazali Hassan, the philanthropist who built, equipped, furnished and donated the ward to the hospital. It is exclusively dedicated to caring for older citizens suffering from geriatric illnesses.
An abridged dictionary definition says: "Geriatrics is the medical specialty dedicated exclusively to providing care for older adults. Older adults have a unique set of issues and concerns which geriatric clinicians are trained to focus upon."
A corps of consultants and supporting healthcare providers has been running geriatrics speciality clinics thrice a week at the AKTH for some time. Their skills were sharpened in training sessions at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH).
It is pertinent at this juncture to state that while the ward dedicated to geriatrics care at AKTH is the first of its kind in the North, the Chief Tony Anenih Geriatric Centre (CTAGC) at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, is the pioneer geriatric centre in Nigeria; if not Africa. The centre was donated by Chief Tony Anenih, a former Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The centre was commissioned on November 17, 2012, by then Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu.
Meanwhile, there are many private and public geriatric centres in the South West, including that of Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), but fewer elsewhere in Nigeria.
The National Hospital in Abuja provides limited geriatric care to patients, not as elaborately as at the AKTH. The number of geriatric patients attending the AKTH clinics is huge.
An estimated seven million Nigerians aged 65 and above suffer from many geriatric diseases, the most common being arthritis, cancer, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, dementia, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, diabetes, osteoporosis, obesity, hypertension and stroke.
Media reports in 2019 indicated that the federal government planned to establish six geriatric centres in tertiary hospitals in the six geopolitical zones to care for the growing number of seniors in the country.
So far, the federal government enacted a law in 2017 establishing the National Senior Citizens Centre (NSCC). The government-funded agency is domiciled in the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
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Its establishment act mandated it "to identify (and meet) the needs of senior citizens in Nigeria. Its general goal is to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of senior citizens in Nigeria."
The agency's functions are hinged on the NSCC Establishment Act 2017, the National Policy on Ageing in Nigeria and the National Social Protection Policy.
The Director General of NSCC said the agency would establish 40 ageing desks in 40 Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in pursuit of its mandate of caring for senior citizens.
Nigeria is not alone in providing geriatric care for the elderly in the world. US-based National Council On Aging (NCOA) advocates for improving the delivery of healthcare for older persons. It raises funds to assist older persons in need of medical care and advocates policies that improve the wellbeing of seniors.
An entry at the website of US-based Eden Prairie Professionals in Ageing (EPPIA) identified four pillars for successful ageing, namely, brain fitness, physical fitness, nutrition/dining experience and social/spiritual engagement.
It is a source of solace that, just like in the US and elsewhere in the world, there are several NGOs in Nigeria, like the Yemi Age Nigeria Foundation, which are focused on raising resources for the aged and providing relief for them through various interventions.
Dambatta is an advocate for healthcare journalism
