A consultant neurologist at the Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Dr Abdul-Haadi Thiamy, has advised Nigerians to place priority on the care for their aged ones and ensure they are kept in an environment that would make them more healthy.
Thiamy, who is also an Islamic scholar, said the elderly do not need to eat three meals in a day, suggesting that instead, the aged should take a lot of water, and eat fruits and vegetables to keep their body system running.
The neurologist spoke in Iwo, Osun State on Sunday, as the guest lecturer at the 28th Ramadan lecture in honour of the late Sheikh Adatulahh Alaye.
He said elderly ones should refrain from eating junk, which may cause damage to their system.
Speaking on the topic, ‘Aging and the Care of the Elderly: Prophetic Traditions and Orthodox Science,’ Thiamy also said that the elderly people should be kept in the midst of people who are mentally and socially attached to them.
He said, “So, they (the elderly) need to be concerned about their health, go for regular medical check up, drink a lot of water, and eat more fruits and vegetables.
“What fruits and vegetables do is to keep preserving the system and mopping up all the disease causing and cancer causing agents that are being produced in their body before they can establish those disease conditions.
“Islam places elderly at a very high pedestrian. Allah wants us to take care of our elders very well. The best care we can give to the elderly is to keep them in the midst of people who are mentally and socially attached to them.
“The part of their body is aged, and the implication of that is that the processes that are running their system are getting tired, and they are now working at sub ultima capacity where they have poor memory.
“Also, their heart is working at lower capacity and they develop either high blood pressure in an attempt of the heart to keep up with the body and the kidney start malfunctioning and the other parts of the body.”
