Introduction

The old age is the last phase of life. It continues till death. This is the age when one needs help, care and sympathy the most because he faces all type of social, economic, emotional and physical problems in this age. So at present, it is most essential and pertinent to understand and find out about the aged section of the society.

According to Hooyman & Kiyak (1994), the gerontologists view aging in terms of four distinct processes: i. Chronological aging is the definition of aging on the basis of a person's years from birth; ii.Biological aging refers to the physical changes thatreduce the efficiency of organ systems, such as thelungs, heart, and circulatory system; iii. Psychologicalaging includes the changes that occur in sensory andperceptual processes, mental functioning, personality,drives and motives; iv. Social aging refers to anindividual's changing roles and relationships in thesocial structure -with family and friends, with the workworld and within organizations, such as, religious andpolitical groups.

Health and medical care is a major problem of the aged. Lucky are those who are able to maintain good health as they advance in age. Even, when one is not suffering from any disease, one experiences a gradual decline in physical strength with the growing age. But, in most cases the advanced age brings with it some chronic ailment and some of the aged get bedridden. They depend on others for their mobility and need medical care.

A few studies have been conducted about the aged in Lucknow (Soodan, 1975; Ahmad, 1992; Tyagi, 1999), which demonstrate the several aspects of aging. But, no any specific attempt has been done to know about the various aspects related to health status among the institutionalized aged in Lucknow. Therefore, against this drawback, this Anthropological study has been conducted to know about various aspects of health and related problems among the inmates of old age homes in Lucknow city.

Methodology

At the time of study, there were 8 old age homes in the city of Lucknow. The sample consisted of 50 institutionalized aged persons, which included 25 males and 25 females. In the course of this anthropological study, extensive field work had been conducted. It included both the primary as well as secondary sources of data. The selection of the sample of the aged had been done through random sampling. All the respondents had been interviewed intensively. Interview of the fellow inmates and the staff of the old age homes had been taken also. Along with it, observation and case study method had been used extensively for this study.