In a keynote speech delivered at this year’s Nikkei-Philips symposium on ‘Independent Living and Home healthcare,’ Dr. Eric Silfen, Chief Medical Officer, Philips Healthcare, reconfirmed Philips’ commitment to ensuring sound and sustainable healthcare in the future. Speaking to an audience of experts from a wide variety of fields and sectors (including the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare), Dr. Silfen focused upon the complex challenge of providing quality care to the nearly 7 billion people living on this planet and the significance of ’empowerment’ in a rapidly aging society.

Dr. Silfen emphasised the importance of raising public awareness of health  issues; developing social systems which encourage more proactive  involvement in prevention, screening and early diagnosis, and shifting  from a hospital-centered healthcare system to one that is more patient-centered.

The Graying Effect

Dr. Silfen starts his speech with describing the size of the aging  problem. ‘We know that the world’s population is aging at a rate never seen before in history. We know that in the year 2000, there were 600 million people over the age of 60. By 2006, that number had topped 700 million. By 2050, we will see it almost triple

Be a part of Elets Collaborative Initiatives. Join Us for Upcoming Events and explore business opportunities. Like us on Facebook , connect with us on LinkedIn and follow us on Twitter , Instagram.