By Noimot Olayiwola/Staff ReporterIn an effort to move away from the practice of keeping aged people in nursing care facilities, the Hamad Medical Corporation’s geriatrics department has established its services in a home-like environment within a villa in Muaither area.The department, which presently has up to 200 beds in its facility in Rumailah’s Hospital and the Skilled Nursing Home at Medical City, is currently looking after some 15 patients within the building, which has the capacity for up to 80 beds.“We have up to 200-bed space for the elderly people that we cater to, we still view this as not being enough because there are some aged people that can not be looked after at home due to the complications of their age, which could include memory loss, osteoporosis, arthritis, stroke, diabetes and hypertension,” said Dr Marwan Ramadan, vice chairman and consultant geriatrician at HMC geriatrics department.He was speaking during a press conference held yesterday on the sidelines of a seminar on the Middle East Academy for Medicine of Ageing (MEAMA).“Qatar is signatory to the Madrid Declaration for the Elderly, which states that there should be no discrimination against anyone due to their age and that the elderly should be looked after by the society not just the government or anyone in particular. So, our centre is trying to ensure that aged people deserving of our services are not denied their rights to medical care,” he said.Dr Ramadan, who acknowledged efforts by some families to look after their sick aged, said that some just have to be in the hospital to survive.“In Qatar, majority of our aged are being taking care of at home, especially when the government is being very supportive to such families in terms of providing all their medical needs including beds, wheelchair and home care services, for both Qataris and non-Qataris,” he added.He mentioned that the government was also assisting Qatari families to employ maids that will look after the old ones.Dr Ramadan added that the present figures of old people forming only 3-4% of the population, is likely to double in the next 10 years.One of the seminar moderators, a visiting doctor from University Hospital in Reykjav?k, Iceland, professor Dr Palmi V Jonsson stressed that education and building of infrastructures were necessary to properly look after the aging population.“Every old person is different from one another and they have different age-related diseases, which might require multiple medical interventions such as cognitive or physical care. They most of the time need a functional approach, which is why we are focusing on quality of care in this seminar being organised for physicians and paramedics personnel at HMC,” he said.Dr Jonsson also maintained that home-based care was the best for the elderly. “In Iceland, we are trying to get away from keeping our elderly people in nursing home facilities and we’re in fact encouraging home care services presently,” he added.He said that participants in the seminar will receive an internationally recognised certificate after completing a four-week of intensive training.