Hyderabad, Nov. 20 -- Telangana health minister C Damodar Raja Narasimha has asked health officials to provide geriatric care for elderly people.

Narasimha said that the standard of living in India has improved, and hence the number of elderly people has also increased. "Just as we are running special child health care centres for children, there will be a need to run special hospitals for the elderly on the lines of Japan and Italy in our country in the future," he said at a review meeting in Hyderabad.

The minister asked health officials to expand geriatric services in all hospitals, with focus on mental and physical health issues of the elderly. Narasimha further said that awareness programmes regarding geriatric care should be condu...