Among the elderly, the major mental illness is dementia. Among people above 65 years, dementia is seen in 15 to 17 percent of the old population whereas the mild cognitive impairment (new learning affected, also delayed recall) affects five to seven percent of the geriatric population.

 Soon memory clinics will come up in mental hospitals at Ratnagiri, Pune, Nagpur, and Thane. Mumbai’s BMC hospitals like B Y L Nair, Sion hospital and D Y Patil hospital in Navi Mumbai are successfully running memory clinics.

 The state is also planning a central institute of ageing at Yerwada mental hospital that will offer post graduation course in geriatric mental health.

Over nine percent of the 13 million people residing in Mumbai are elderly. In case of elderly patients, emphasis is often laid on the physical heath while the mental health is ignored. Because of their age, elders get cut off from the social circle and go into a shell. This sometimes leads to depression which may result in a suicide.

“In this age there is strong determination to suicide,” added Dr Kumawat.