'Form separate ministry for elderly people'

Speakers at a workshop called for establishing a separate ministry for elderly and veteran people.
They lamented on the fact that both the youth and the children have ministries to tend to their needs, whereby the elderly people remain as the responsibility of a department whose primary function is to help people with disabilities.
"There is a ministry to feed my son and there is also a ministry to tend to the needs of my grandson. But who is there to take care of me? No one!" said Abdul Sattar, 60, a Sidr victim from Bagerhat.
"The fact that we have to resort to a department that was formed to deal with people with disabilities is humiliating," he said.
The workshop on 'Mainstreaming ageing issues in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Plan' was organised by Resource Integration Centre (RIC) in association with HelpAge International and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Germany at the National Press Club on Thursday.
"If not a ministry, there is a desperate need for at least a separate department to tend to the needs and facilities of the elderly people," said RIC Director Abul Haseeb Khan.
Other discussants at the workshop stressed the need to bridge the gap between the old and the youth, terming it vital to the proper development of the country.
"The elderly people should be taken to schools and educational institutes so that they can share their experiences of the Liberation War with the young generation. This would evoke patriotism in the youth," said Abu Syeed Khan, managing editor of the daily Shamokal.
The speakers pointed out that the older people are usually the worst affected when it comes to natural disasters.
They said women and children tend to receive special treatments, especially during natural disasters, but despite being vulnerable in more than one way, the elderly are usually neglected.
Speaking as the chief guest, Environment and Forest Secretary Dr Mihir Kanti Majumdar said that a lot of work has been done to fight natural disasters and keep the losses to a minimum. But the situation of the elderly people who tend to be most affected by the disasters have remained largely overlooked.