IN death index-2015, compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) for 80 countries Bangladesh’s position rests at 79; which appears to be a worst case. The death index measures the death time pain and care at hospitals and nursing homes tied to quality of treatment and allowing comfortable death. It shows the UK tops the list with 93.9 point as against Bangladesh’s score at 14.1 showing the paucity of old age and death time care in our hospitals. Australia and New Zealand stands at second and third position in the ranking with 91.6 and 81.6 score respectively. The USA stands at 9th place and Canada at 11th place.Bangladesh’s position is just above war-ravaged Iraq indicating the lack of basic facilities and attention that our hospital services pay to dieing patients. In South Asia Sri Lanka ranked 65th and India 67th to show even in regional standard Bangladesh’s position is not comparable to its neighbours. As the number of aged people is ever growing in the world and also in Bangladesh with their helpless dependence on families and old age ailment making life unbearable. Developed countries have fairly good arrangement to take care of their specialized needs at hospitals and old homes where nurses and attendants keep watch round the clock with access to life saving drugs and quick admission to Intensive Care Unit. What is important is that so long the quality of life concept has dominated human thinking and living arrangement. But the quality of death is now slowly getting equal importance in public debates and policy forum in the developed nations while in poor countries, the paucity of resources and lack of attention to make death time pains and sufferings less acute is yet to get due recognition. In Bangladesh, the maternity health care services were once neglected but now we gained success, it is time we must create proper facilities to attend old aged people and their need including reducing death time pains and agonies should also get due attention. Public policies, health service arrangement and allocation of resources must be made accordingly. Nurses must be trained and separate unit for old patients must be set up to take care of their needs. Old homes may also be set up for them. There is no doubt that the income levels of people is a strong factor for availability and quality of death time care in which wealthy countries are doing better with proper medi-care arrangements. The state pays for treatment and insurance cover makes old days less agonizing. But in Bangladesh public hospital services are very poor and blurred with corruption and neglect while one has to buy medical treatment in most cases at private hospitals at home and abroad at a huge cost. We must do everything to reduce death time pains and treating our old people at better condition and less cost.
