Guwahati, June 21: Dispur Hospital in Ganeshguri will organise a month-long training for relatives and professional caregivers of dementia patients from June 26.

The training will be provided by professionals like clinical psychologists, psychiatrists and critical-care consultants working with dementia patients. It will consist of different aspects of dementia care according to an Alzheimer's and Related Disorders Society of India (ARDSI) training module.

According to a 2012 survey conducted by the ARDSI, in association with the state department of social welfare, around 12 per cent of people above the age of 60 suffer from dementia and other related diseases. The figure has gone up in recent times and the rate of incidence also increases with increase in age. The rate is five per cent for patients above 60, 10 per cent for those above 65 and 25 per cent above the age of 85. Collated with the population of the city, around 2,000 elderly people in Guwahati suffer from the disease, according to Dr Ajaya Mahanta, retired head of the GMCH's neurology department and founder president of the Guwahati chapter of ARDSI.

Mahanta, now working at Dispur Hospital, will head the faculty providing the training. She pegged the number of dementia patients in the world at 45 million, of which 4.5 million live in India. The number is likely to double by 2050.

The training consists of eight modules. Near relatives and professional caregivers like nurses will be trained to communicate properly with the patient, manage aggressive behaviour, create a dementia-friendly home with safety measures, make the patient aware of self-care as well as independent, she said.