Take care of neurological problems of the elderly: Governor P Sathasivam

THIURVANANTHAPURAM: Governor P. Sathasivam on Saturday stressed the need for giving special attention to neurological problems that affect the elderly people in Kerala . "Neurological problems constitute a larger part of ailments faced by our elderly people. The area therefore requires a little more emphasis," he said. "Dementia and Parkinson's diseases are also becoming more common. There should be continued effort to create awareness among people about neurological problems they might face at different stages of life as prevention and management," he said and added that 12 per cent of the state's population is above 60 years.

The governor was inaugurating the three-day international conference on advanced technologies for diagnosis, treatment and betterment of people afflicted with neuro-muscular diseases which began at Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST). "From limited rudimentary equipment in 70s, the technological progress we have reached the technological progress achieved by the developed world. Today with the developments in electrophysiology, our neurologists have access to micro chip based equipment which yield high accuracy.

'Equally or more satisfying is that there has been considerable breakthrough in the research in the last decade related to neurological sciences in the fields of electromyography and clinical neurophysiology,' he said. The conference is taking place at a time when the medical world's focus is on neuro-muscular diseases following death of legendary scientist Stephen Hawking who was also the longest survivor of Motor Neuron disease. The Governor also presented Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr M. Gourie-Devi, professor of neurology, Institute Of Human behaviour and Allied Sciences, New Delhi and former director-vice chancellor, NIMHANS, Bangalore.