Growing old can be hard to come to terms with. one has to deals with loss of friends, physical frailty, and a rapidly changing society that pays only lip service to the idea of taking care of and respecting the elderly. When Pakistani want to argue that their society is better than the west, they give the example of how we treat our elderly. Only callous and ungrateful people send their parents or grandparents to old age homes.

However, the reality is different there are old age homes all over Pakistan in Karachi there are six old age homes, in Islamabad and Lahore there are 2 old age homes. This depicts the reality of our society.

When parents take care of their children for years why it becomes difficult to live with them in their crucial phase of life. Parents spend their whole life in the betterment of their children but when the times come where they should take rest, their children send them to the old age. This is the harsh reality of our society, which is increasing day by day.

During geriatric phase of life, one is going through many physical and mental changes, diseases become part of their daily life like osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer disease, depression, diabetes and most common hypertension. This is the time where they need support of their families. Medical and Emotional support must be provided to them to make them sure that they are valuable assets of the society.

HADIA AZIZ,

Islamabad.