Chile’s Aging Population Facing Healthcare Crisis 

By Nathan Crooks, El Mercurio

Chile

May 23, 2007

Chilean gerontologists are increasingly worried that the nation’s aging population is not getting the health care they need. Senior citizens currently make up ten percent of Chile’s population, but by the year 2025, they will account for twenty percent. And as the country’s population ages, few doctors are being trained to meet the needs of older patients.

There are currently only 25 specially trained gerontologists in Chile, one for every 250,000 residents. European Union standards currently recommend that there be one gerontologist for every 5,000 residents.

Dr. Pedro Paulo Marín, the head of geriatric medicine at the Universidad Catolica, said the needs of older patients were different and warned that senior citizens would be treated improperly if more doctors don’t specialize in gerontology. “A doctor not trained in the issues that older patients face is not going to know what to do,” he said. “Senior citizens will be treated like young people and be subjected to needless tests and consultations.”

Jorge Carabantes, the head of development at Chile’s Health Ministry, said it is unlikely the country would be able to produce the 260 geriatric specialists it needs within the next ten years. “We need gerontologists,” he said. “But we are currently focusing on perfecting the training of general practices doctors and other professionals who are first responders.”

While Chile’s government provides scholarships for doctors wishing to specialize in geriatric medicine, officials said there is not a lot of interest in the program. Doctors wishing to specialize in the field must go through an additional three years training in internal medicine, and few doctors are willing to commit the time.

“We need to use the system that Spain switched to,” said Alicia Villalobos, the director of the Ministry of Health’s Senior Citizen Program. Doctors in Spain wishing to specialize in geriatric medicine immediately enter the program and therefore are not required to go through extra training when they complete their medical degrees. 

Other officials said hospitals should especially appoint future gerontologists, paying for their studies and guaranteeing a job when the specialization is complete.

But Ministry of Health spokesperson Paula Forttess said the real solution was to change the way senior citizens are viewed in society. “We need to make everyone aware of the issues that older Chileans face,” she said.

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