Future Prospect of the Silver Industry in Korea and Physicians' Participation

ABSTRACT

Silver industry or senior friendly industry is an industry that helps the aged people maintain their healthy life and increase their quality of life. It includes various specialized industries such as health care facilities and service industry, senior friendly housing industry, medical and rehabilitation equipments industry, senior friendly leisure industry, health information service industry, and so on. The silver industry is growing and becoming popular in countries where proportion of aged population and their buying power are increasing, and Korea is one of the fastest aging countries in the world and the buying power of the aged is also increasing. This means that the silver industry in Korea is expected to grow rapidly in the near future. In fact, one report foresees that the annual growth rate of silver industry for 10 years from 2010 in Korea is expected to be 12.9% whereas that of overall industry is only 4.7%.It is quite natural that active participation of physicians is desperately needed in the development of silver industry because of the nature of health problems of the aged population, and for effective applications and supplies of the silver industry to the aged. For this, specialized curriculum on geriatric health problems and the characteristics of silver industry should be provided to the medical students in the undergraduate medical education and to the physicians in the postgraduate and continuing medical education programs. Special short-term educational program for the retired physicians to work at the health care facilities with or without being paid are also desirable.