Widening horizons: Adding quality

Background: Ageing is inevitable and unavoidable. It brings various challenges with it. An aged person faces physical, mental and social problems. India crossed the mark of 7% aged population above 60 years, putting in the club of few countries which have such a big proportion of population in this age group. Various specialities were created based on gender or age group. Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology were the specialties, which laid down the foundation of health and medical care in the elderly. Various approaches were developed to take care of health of the older persons. Summary: With the advent of technology and newer medical interventions, focus increased on various narrow domains of human body. Obviously, mental health became an important area of care, as numbers of older persons are increasing and their mental health domains are affected due to physical, physiological, pathological and social factors. Multi-pronged approach is required to manage mental health in older persons. The landscaping of pharmacological, immunological and technological interventions changed with time. Newer policies were developed and infra-structure created. India also saw paradigm shift in vision for the care of its older