Accel's Prashanth Prakash inks MoU to set up geriatrics wing at IISc

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The Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru (IIMSc) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with venture capital firm Accel's founding partner Prashanth Prakash to set up a geriatrics wing at the Bagchi-Parthasarathy hospital.

Geriatrics refers to a branch of medicine that deals with the health and care of the elderly (above 65 years of age). The new wing will be called the Shantha & Prakash Geriatrics Wing and is expected to be operational by the start of 2025.

“Proactively managing age-related comorbidities will help prolong the period during which individuals can enjoy maximum physical and cognitive independence,” said Accel's Prakash who was appointed as the Chairman of Karnataka’s Startup Vision Group in 2021.

Through physician-scientists, there is immense potential for the Institute to bring advancements in Geosciences and Healthy-aging to help people live their most extended, healthiest lives possible, Prakash added.

“The wing will be equipped with facilities in geriatrics to support academic and research programmes, and to enable PG students to undergo training of a world-class standard,” said the IISc in a prepared statement on Thursday.

The new wing will take forward the IISc Medical School objective of integrating science, engineering, and medicine under a single umbrella to produce a new generation of physician-scientists, the statement said.

“It is also crucial to ensure healthy aging of the population. These multiple challenges require an interdisciplinary approach for effective care and we are sure that the Shanta & Prakash Geriatrics Wing will fuel and drive the much-needed innovation in this space,” said Govindan Rangarajan, director, Indian Institute of Science.