“While no one can change the outcome of dementia or Alzheimer's, with the right support you can change the journey.” ― Author and public speaker on mental health issues, Tara Reed
An immaculately dressed, young Colonel Haider looks out from the picture on his bedside table. Clean-shaven and in his navy whites, he was known for his sense of style and disciplined way of life. But his daughter Jahanara is noticing a change in his routine and habits.
Ten years into his retirement, Colonel H
The cast and crew of the play.
aider has lost interest in how he looks and you’ll often find him with the buttons on his shirt undone. He can spend an hour in the bathroom only to emerge with stubble on his face and without changing his clothes. More irritable and withdrawn, he asks Jahanara the same question over and over again, as though he can’t recall her reply.
These bouts of confusion and forgetfulness worry Jahanara who’s called a family meeting. Even though everyone is saying that memory issues are a pa
"The use of theatre in medical education enables our students to relate to situations that can’t be captured in textbooks and medical rounds, and helps us produce more empathetic, well-rounded doctors."
Dr Saniya Sabzwari
rt of the cycle of growing old, Jahanara feels like her father is a different person from the self-assured man in the picture.
The scenes may be from Main Bhool Gaya (I Have Forgotten), a theatrical production by AKU student and faculty production on dementia, but it is also a real-life scenario that’s taken place in many a home.
Main Bhool Gaya is an initiative of the University’s curriculum committee which is using the liberal arts to help students identify with prominent public health issues. “Our play offers an insight into how dementia affects an individual and his or her family,” said Maeen Syed, student director and 3rd year medical student. “It reflects the reality of so many families who are having to navigate the anxiety and uncertainty of caring for a loved one who is losing his perception of reality.”
It is a ‘hidden disease’ as the symptoms of dementia are frequently missed by health professionals and family members. The decision to visit the doctor is often only taken at an advanced stage of the disease as a family struggles to adapt to the personality changes and deterioration in decision-making that characterises the disease.
“The play gives the audience a chance to see the disease from a patient’s perspective whilst also showing the experience of a family caring for a loved one with dementia,” said Dr Saniya Sabzwari, the play’s author and an associate professor in family medicine. “The use of theatre in medical education enables our students to relate to situations that can’t be captured in textbooks and medical rounds, and helps us produce more empathetic, well-rounded doctors,” she added.
Sixteen medical students in their second, third and fifth years were involved in the production of the play which played to a packed house at the AKU auditorium. The theatre production is set to be an annual event which will be organised by the University’s Humanities and Social Sciences Programme in collaboration with the Medical College’s Curriculum Committee.
