Sri Lanka, June 9 -- Whenever a child is born into a Sri Lankan family, everything changes. Parents, grandparents, relatives and neighbours gather around. Money is found, time is given, and every possible effort is made to protect that newborn life. We worry about the child's food, health, education and future. We build a circle of protection around the beginning of life.

Yet, as a rheumatologist working in the busy corridors of our government hospital system, I see another side of life every day. I see what happens at the other end of the human journey. I see elderly men and women arriving with painful joints, weak muscles, poor eyesight, unsteady walking, loneliness and fear. And I am forced to ask a painful question: why do we protec...