With surge of retirees, elder care concerns rise

As he wheels his 77-year-old aunt away from Bangkok's first day center for the elderly, Nakhon reflects on the familial duties that oblige him to juggle night-shift work and care for his aging relative.

It is an increasingly common predicament in rapidly graying Thailand, where a demographic shift is straining social mores and threatening upheaval for the economy.

"She raised me when I was little so now I will take care of her when she's old. It's our culture," explained 35-year-old Nakhon Thianprasert.

Adult children in Thailand often care for their aging parents, a responsibility drummed into kids from an early age.

But these duties are getting tougher, with the share of Thais over 65 expected to surge from seven to 17 million people over the next three decades, shrinking the workforce and placing a huge burden on the welfare and medical systems.

While other Asian countries with elderly populations - such as Japan and Singapore - have the money to plan for welfare, middle-income Thailand is getting old before it gets rich.

Top destination

Thailand's warm weather and abundance of luxury retirement homes makes it a top destination for Western retirees. But the concept is taboo locally.

Nakhon's community in Bangkok's northeastern outskirts is working toward a compromise solution.

Using donations, they run a small center where children can drop off their parents during the day while they go to work or run errands.

Earlier this year, the middle-class neighborhood flipped an unused building into a brightly-painted room equipped with a few beds, several rows of plastic chairs and simple exercise equipment.

Nurses and volunteers offer activities like sewing, painting and singing - plus a much-needed opportunity to socialize.

"It is much better than staying home where I always just watch TV and do nothing", said Nakhon's aunt, Boonrod Khamhomkul, who suffers from diabetes and is not able to walk on her own.

The center's head nurse, Larita Chobpradith, goes door-to-door to around the neighborhood to check on older residents and introduce them to the day care concept.

"Elderly people who have health problems don't need to be bed-bound any more. That way their relatives can also do their own thing and they won't be stressed," she said.