This refers to the article ‘When memory fails’ (June 22), which rightly pointed out the predicament of patients and their families who experience the long goodbye, such as Alzheimer’s disease, where someone knows that he or she is losing something, but is having prolonged trouble doing so.
This is indeed a grave situation for the victims who on humanitarian grounds deserve the care and concern of their families, society and the healthcare system at large.
While talking specifically about Pakistan, one is disgusted to know that there is a complete dearth of basic facilities to take care of an old-age memory loss and onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Similarly, we are quite deficient in providing diagnostic services for early detection and care of this serious ailment.
Ironically, we also lack proper family and societal response to help unfortunate victims of mental disorders. As a matter of fact, terminally ill or mentally retarded patients are often ignored and are resigned to the life of unmitigated misery and pain.
This is an unfortunate situation, to say the least. Society needs to have a forward-looking mindset and do whatever is possible within its means to help such victims to pass their twilight years with human dignity and honour. No one should be denied help just because they have an irreversible disease.
Denial of available help to such patients amounts to criminal negligence and is unpardonable. Nobody knows for sure when the medical science at some point in time may come up with something to offer that may help these unfortunate individuals. We need to keep them as well as we can so that they may take advantage of such a breakthrough whenever it happens.
DR NAILA ZIA
LAHORE
