Introduce health insurance for elderly
Speakers at a discussion yesterday urged the government to introduce mandatory health insurance for the country's growing elderly population, aged above 60.
The call was made at the fourth session of “Café Scientifique”, a platform for open discussion among researchers, government stakeholders and civil society representatives on different contemporary topics.
SHARE Project of icddr,b, in association with Department of Population Sciences of Dhaka University (DU), organised the discussion on “social and healthcare needs of elderly population” on the DU campus in the capital.
Rather than being a burden, the elderly will be able to contribute to the country if they can live a healthy life, the speakers said.
Prof Mohammad Mainul Islam, chairperson of DU's population sciences department, said aging is inevitable and a normal process. In order to make senior citizens self-reliant, the government should provide them with health insurance that will ensure proper health services for them.
Referring to previous studies, Mohammad Belal Hossain, associate professor of the department, said about eight percent of the country's population is aged above 60.
He urged all to change their perception about the elderly and treat them as potential human resources, rather than considering them burden to the society.
Among others, ATM Iqbal Anwar, project director of SHARE; and M Mushtuq Hussain, coordinator of Coordination and Support Centre at Directorate General of Health Services; also spoke at the programme.
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