Geriatric care sector development pushed

The Retirement and Healthcare Coalition (RHC) yesterday urged the government to craft policies that would help develop the local geriatric care industry, deemed as one of the most promising sunrise industries in the country today.

RHC, a nonprofit organization formed by the European, American, Japanese and Korean Chambers of Commerce, said this move would help the government in marketing the Philippines as an international retirement destination.

“The Philippines has the potential to become a world leader in this industry given that it has a westernized culture, it is the world’s third biggest English speaking country and has more than 300,000 nurses who are unemployed or not working in their field,” said RHC chair Henry Schumacher.

“Global aging is also happening in the Philippines which currently has close to eight million senior citizens living in the country. We cannot close our eyes on this development and we need to come up with services for the country’s aging population,” Schumacher said.

To help in the development of the geriatric care industry, RHC has formed a group of companies that could start providing geriatric care within villages and residential areas. The group is also working on a geriatric curriculum that will be offered starting 2016 to select colleges and universities as a six-month vocational training course.

RHC has likewise formed the Alliance of Residential Care Facilities, composed of six residential care facilities from Manila, Iloilo and Tagaytay. These facilities are in the process of implementing a quality management system in their facilities to be at par with European standards. Amy Remo