KARACHI: Some 30 per cent of the country’s nine million citizens aged 65 or more suffer from neurological and psychological disorders with a tiny population of them has access to diagnosis and treatment, experts have said.
The experts stated this at an awareness seminar organised on the eve of World Brain Day held at a local hotel to draw attention towards issues aged people were facing.
The seminar was organised by the Pakistan Society of Neurology in collaboration with the Neurology Awareness and Research Foundation (NARF) and the Lundbeck Pakistan.
The experts said neurological and psychological disorders in aged population were generally considered a consequence of growing age, but, in fact those were diseases which could be treated with medicines, prevented with care and managed with proper diet, exercise and activities.
Prof Mohammed Wassey said population of people of 65 years or more was growing rapidly in the world as in Japan it had exceeded the population of young children.
Globally, the number of aged people was 800 million that was expected to rise to two billion by 2050.
“With growing age, come diseases especially neurological and psychological disorders like stroke, dementia and Parkinson’s disease while psychological disorders like depression, generalised anxiety disorder and other mental health issues were also common among people of growing age.”
He said those were the diseases that could be avoided, prevented and treated with counselling, medication and lifestyle modification.
According to him, there is no age of retirement as retiring from physical and mental activities could be extremely detrimental for people about the age of 65, who might develop various neurological and psychological issues.
Unfortunately, said Dr Wassey, just 100,000 people in Pakistan had so far been diagnosed with dementia, which is a neurological disorder, although the actual number of people with that disorder could be in millions.
He said only a few thousand people had the opportunity to seek and afford the treatment of mental disorder.
“In our society, neurological and psychological issues of elderly people are considered as consequences of growing age and they have to live their remaining life with these issues although they can be prevented and treated as well,” he added.
Prof Iqbal Afridi spoke over the decline of recent memory, decreased speed of processing, decreased attention and concentration and decline of orientation among the aged population.
He said as per World Health Organization (WHO) definition, health was a physical, social and mental well-being of a person and a person should be fit in all respects to be able to have a healthy life in the later years of his life.
Prof Afridi said a balanced diet, mental and physical exercise and proper and continuous use of mental abilities kept a person fit psychologically and one could continue enjoying the twilight years of their life instead of living it miserably.
Prof Shaukat Ali, Prof Aijaz Vohra, Prof Hamid Shafqat, Prof Uneeza Niaz and Dr Abul Malik spoke on the healthy lifestyle, availability of recreational facilities and proper healthcare opportunities for the elderly population so that they could live like normal human beings in the society.
They said instead of considering themselves as useless part of the society, elderly people should continue to work, engage themselves in social welfare, solve puzzles, read and write regularly and have both physical and mental exercises to remain fit.
Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2016
