A hospital for senior citizens

A Senate bill is now on second and third reading which if approved will establish a Philippine Geriatric Center.

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This hospital will cater exclusively to senior citizens, and it could not be more timely as there were 9.24 million citizens aged 65 and over in 2020 or 8.5 percent of the population. It is predicted that the proportion of senior citizens will make up 20 percent of the population in 30 years’ time. This is a demographic transition that is termed as a demographic winter.

Certainly, a hospital for senior citizens is a welcome development as even now, our government hospitals are straining to provide medical care for the entire population. Elderly citizens tend to have more co-morbidities that will require more complex and expensive medical care. Geriatric medicine, as a subspecialty, is going to be more in demand as the population ages rapidly.

But the more important question is the financing of health care for these elders, since they will be mostly retired and may not have saved enough for their retirement, much less for health care. Hopefully, we will have a hundred percent coverage for medical expenses for all, which at the current rate, may not be feasible for a while.