Sir William Beveridge Foundation, a British charity, has launched its programme in Bangladesh by providing home care services to the vulnerable elderly citizens in their own houses through skilled and trained nurses free of cost.
Disclosing this to BSS, Rahman Jilani, founder and executive director of the foundation said that changes in the world economic environment have been affecting Bangladesh.
As a result he said the middle, lower and fixed income people in bigger cities and towns are failing to provide adequate health and social care support to their elderly parents and grandparents even within the extended family network.
"We like to provide daily home care services to their own houses. We are not asking vulnerable senior citizens to come to the service -- rather trying to send the services to them," Jilani added.
Jilani said that initially the service is being provided in Malibagh, Motijheel, Shantinagar, Rajarbagh, Shahidbagh, Siddeswari, Shantibagh, Gulbagh, Khilgaon, Shahjahanpur and Goran areas in the capital. The ward commissioners send the names of the elderly citizens to the foundation office.
The nurses are then sent to those households and talk to the family members as well as the elderly citizen and assess their requirements. "We got a tremendous response from the people," Rahman Jilani said.
He said that gradually the services would be spread across the city in future.
William Henry Beverigde was born in Bangladesh. His father was a judge in the Indian Civil Service. His 1942 report heralded a new approach to the meaning of quality of life in Britain and it provided people with the means to improve their own lives.
"He is a great inspiration to me. I had always wanted to work with people and as a social workers in East end of London for many years, I treated everyone as individuals," Jilani said.
The foundation is also supporting the Moulana Bhasani Nursing Institute at Uttara in the city where students undergoing training are given special course on English so that they could be employed abroad.
Jilani said that these nurses have been following British curriculum but in Bengali language. "Now we are supporting the institute to develop English speaking skills of the trainee nurses," he said. He said that following that these nurses could find jobs in the hospitals in Europe and America.
Sir William Beveridge Foundation is committed to a philosophy of 'Care', which focuses on the needs of families with elderly parents and relations. "The essence of our motivation is the love of humanity and desire to give everyone a chance to live with dignity," Jilani said.