The effects of ageism on the provision of health services to elderly people in Tanzania public hospitals the case of Mwananyamala Hospital in Dar es Salaam Region

Awareness of ageism in Tanzania is limited because of paucity of research work on ageism in the health sector. Indeed, the existence of ageism in Tanzania's health sector has only been recently exposed despite its long history in the public health. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of ageism in provision of health services to elderly people in Tanzania public hospitals with particular respect to Mwananyamala hospital in Dar es Salaam region. The study employed a case study design through which interviews, observation guide and questionnaire were used in data collection. Three objectives guided the study: to find out the existence of age discrimination during the provision of healths services in public hospitals, to find out the attitude of medical personnel towards elderly people during provision of health services in public hospitals and to identify the effects of ageist practices to elderly people as they seek medical services. The findings revealed that the structure and organisation in public health sector perpetuate the deliverance of poor health services to elderly people. This is due to limited number of both staff and resources channelled to elderly patients. Negative attitude and wrong perceptions on both ageing process and old age held by doctors and nurses strongly affects the quality of health care and treatment to elderly people. Based on the study findings, both recommendations for action and for further research are proposed. Similarly, the study calls for a comparative study on health service provisions in both public and private hospitals in rural and urban Tanzania.