Background Elderly population particularly aged 65years and more contributes to 380 million people globally and by the year 2020, this population is projected to increase to more than 690 million .This older population is vulnerable to various disabilities as a consequence of stroke, dementia, heart diseases and trauma and demands the need of care giving services provided by care givers to older population can improve their quality of life and survival.

Objective To find out issues encountered by family members for caring of elderly population as perceived by elderly patients visiting primary care clinics in Pakistan.

Methodology A cross sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted at the Community Health Centre (CHC), Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) Karachi, Pakistan. All consenting individuals, visiting the CHC and aged 65 years or above were interviewed after taking written informed consent and strict confidentiality was assured.

Results A total of 400 elderly completed the interview. Majority were females, 65-69 years age, Over half of the individuals ie: 227 (85%) had received Care Giver experience for assistance and among these 195 (72%) had care provided by an immediate family member. Majority of the patients (86%) preferred family member as care givers and were satisfied by service provided by their family members (94%) however only 4% were not satisfied. Problems in providing care giving was faced by (43 %) of the care providers .most common issues encountered by family member while providing care giving included financial difficulty (3 0%) lack of time (30%) followed by job responsibility (22%),home responsibilities (10%) and, health reasons (6%) respectively.

Conclusion Elderly care is provided by majority of the family members resulting in increased satisfaction level, however small number still not satisfied due to unfulfilled need of these older people. This demands that efforts should be made to strengthen the family support by increasing awareness regarding elderly care and arranging support system by the government.