Currently, the ratio of Alzheimer’s Diseases’ doctor to patients is 0.0295:1000, while the number of hospital bed allocated for Alzheimer’s disease patient is less than 1. This is an alarming situation for a country like Bangladesh where the ageing population will increase by 5% in the next 10 years. In Bangladesh, the foremost and common method of diagnosing patients for Alzheimer’s Disease is by checking their medical and family history, past records, and psychiatric history. Patients that are prone to have Alzheimer’s Disease are given certain problem-solving tests to solve – this helps physicians to examine the thinking and problem-solving capabilities of the suspected patients.
Most of the neuroscience and psychology department is located in Dhaka, experts are available in hospitals like – BSMMU, Evercare Hospitals Ltd, United Hospitals Ltd, Square Hospitals Ltd, etc.
Upon research, it has been denoted that in our country the number of professionals is the highest in neurology department and lowest in neurophysiology department. In contrast to the dense population of Dhaka, these numbers are not sufficient to tackle any adversities that might arise in the upcoming future.
Alzheimer’s Disease in the context of Bangladesh is still new and has a lot of scopes and researches to do to derive its findings. In Bangladesh, people need more awareness about AD and professionals should create policies and guidelines so that people are more accountable about its treatments.
Although, there are insufficient medical facilities for AD patients, some NGOs are still working for the betterment and more awareness of this disease. Sir William Beveridge Foundation has one unit “Dementia Bangladesh” centered on providing dementia care training for key staff by Alzheimer’s Associations in Australia, as well as by their experienced tutors in Bangladesh.
SAJIDA Home Care is providing home-based health care to 36 patients in different locations in Dhaka city, with 62 caregivers where 23 of them have Dementia Care Skills training.
After completion of the training, caregivers receive certificates from Bangladesh Dementia Task Force (BDTF). BDTF is a social media-based organization that promotes Dementia issues in Bangladesh by raising awareness.
