Introduction:
Bangladesh Association for the Aged and Institute of Geriatric Medicine (BAAIGM) situated
in Agargaon, is popularly known as "Probhin Hitoishi Sangha" in Bangladesh. To establish
specific programs for the older people living in urban areas, it is one of the only Bangladeshi
NGOs. Its activities take place within some town branches and include health care,
rehabilitation, workshops, research and publication. Several programmes like afforestation,
family planning or micro-credit and many more are ensured to necessitate the elderly by
BAAIGM. This assignment focuses on the aspects as well as the current situation of the
BAAIGM. A field trip was conducted to ensure proper public participation and to visualise
the present state of the elderly people who are living there without their family.
Aim of the Study:
• the primary aim of the study is to apply the knowledge we learnt from the beginning of the
semester
• to know the present situation and other aspects of the elderly persons
Methodology:
A. observation:
Established in 1960 and run by BAAIGM in the capital's Agargaon, the old
home is part of a non-profit social welfare project, which is partly funded by the
government.
"People think it is a hospital only for the old, but actually it is a general hospital
where people aged above 60 receive treatment at a reduced rate and those who
are life time members get a 50% discount. The poor, however, get totally free
treatment," Rahman said. (The Daily Star)
keys study
B. Focus group discussion:
A group discussion was made with the elderly people of the Association for the aged. lots of
finds were came out while that discussion was going on.
Abul Rahman Sarker, social welfare officer of BAAIGM said that The hospital has 96 staff
including 21 doctors, six nurses and administrative officers. BAAIGM gets Tk 3.5 crore from
the health ministry per year.
C. Place of Study and time:
The only old home in Agargaon-Dhaka is an autonomous organization, was
established in [Link] is run by the donations of the ministry of Health and
ministry of Social Welfare. Total 200 old people can be accommodated in this
old home.
The study was taken place during the 20 and 21 April.
Limitations of the study:
The time frame was too short to gain enough information about the topic. It
requires more time to gain much information about the personal feelings and the
thinking and thoughts of the elderly persons of the study area. Even they took
much time to be free with us to share their feelings and information. Except the
field work, we did not get enough time to review sufficient numbers of literature
which is very cruicial for an appropriate research. Even we did not approach to
the main respondents in the first day,we meet them in person in the second day.
not enough respondents were involved in the discussion. Many of them do not
want to share their personal feelings which was a barrier to collect enough
information.
Logistics of the research:
Literature Review:
As the information we got from the field work was not sufficient enough to
present, many literature review were done to make the research strong.
Different online sources, websites, newspaper, online journal were cited for
more information. mostly we got lots of information from the the prospectus
and other documents provided by the authority of the BAAIGM.
Position of the aged in field work:
approximately 200 aged people were found in the study area. Many of them came because of having
no close relative but a most of them came there inspite of having family. they claimed that they are
deprived of their family. many of them cried while sharing there feelings.
for the safety and health issue of the elderly peoples a hospital has been set. they get medical
benefits from [Link] patients getting OPD service are happy with the treatment.
Even though they find many facilities over there, they are not happy. there saying is, nothing can be
an alternative of a family care.
Better and Bitter moments of Field work:
When people work in group, they might experience some never forgettable moments. This
field trip is one of those which will be ever memorable in our life. We were about to cry
while hearing the stories of the elderly people, at the same time we were felling fantastic to
have such a real life experience through field tour.
conclusion:
Even though they find many facilities over there, they are not happy. there saying is, nothing can be
an alternative of a family care.
Recommendation:
• hospital's services should be extended so that old people who have been abandoned by
their family could be given medical treatment for free.
• recreational activities should be emphasied to have better environment
• consultancy with the aged should be done in a regular basis to know their needs and
wants
References:
01. [Link]
geriatric-medecine-baaigm/
02. [Link]
03. [Link]
