The Dhaka Times Report. Although the total number of elderly people in the country is not accurately calculated, according to one statistic, the number of elderly people in the country is more than one crore. Unfortunately, there are no separate hospitals and specialized medical facilities at the public and private levels to provide healthcare to these senior citizens.
Health experts say that due to aging, the elderly suffer from different types of diseases than the general population. They suffer from many diseases including diabetes, heart disease, cancer, kidney, high blood pressure, osteoporosis. Apart from physical they suffer from mental illness. Although there are initiatives in the country to create specialists, sub-specialists and super-specialists on various subjects for the good treatment of patients of different ages, there is no necessary initiative to have specially trained geriatric and psychiatric doctors and specialized units (geriatric units) in hospitals to provide good treatment to the elderly. In the developed world including the neighboring country India, separate departments called 'Geriatric Medicine' are running in both public and private level hospitals to ensure good treatment for the elderly. Unfortunately, the problems of the elderly are not unknown to the policy makers of the health sector, yet no such separate department has been developed in the country. Elderly people in most cases have to live a painful life of co-dependency.
According to a statistic, the average life expectancy of people in this country has increased by 12 years and 2 months in the last three decades. The average life expectancy in 1981 was 55 years and in 2000 it was 61 years but now it has increased to 67 years and 2 months. At present, people aged 60 or above are 6.8 percent of the total population in the country. Although the increase in average life expectancy is a positive aspect, millions of elderly people spend their days with extreme health risks as a result of receiving treatment under the conventional medical system.
Through such a situation, 'World Health Day' will be celebrated all over the world, including Bangladesh, on April 7. This year the theme of the day is 'Take care of the elderly, come forward for health protection'.
Health Minister Professor Dr. Afam Ruhul Haque said that although there is a need for specialized treatment for the elderly, such institutions have not been established in the country so far. The World Health Organization has chosen the theme of World Health Day to emphasize the issue of older people. He expressed hope that special medical services for the elderly will be introduced in this country in the future.
A Senior Philanthropic Association and Zara Science Institute are being run at Agargaon in the capital with the support of the World Health Organization. The Sangh has 52 old age homes outside Dhaka. A number of old age homes are also being run by private enterprises. Officially, these institutions claim to have health care systems including rehabilitation of the elderly, but in reality it is in shambles.
President of National Health Rights Movement National Committee and former president of Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) Professor Dr. Rashid-e-Mahbub said that although it sounds bad, the reality is that senior citizens' homes, run by the government or private sector, are 'orphanages for the elderly'. Nursing homes have none of the specialist doctors and medical facilities needed to treat geriatric ailments.
Note that currently there are 3 thousand 84 hospitals in the country. Among them 583 at the government level and 2 thousand 501 at the private level. There are a total of 81 thousand 876 beds including 39 thousand 639 beds in government hospitals and 42 thousand 237 beds in private hospitals. There are 22 government medical, 53 private medical colleges, 62 district headquarters hospitals, 418 upazila health complexes, 5 thousand 168 union sub-centers and health family welfare centers. The population to doctor ratio in the health sector is 3012:1. The ratio of population and number of beds is 2 thousand 665:1, population and nurses is 6 thousand 342:1.
English 
Bengali