Reader Submission: Elderly care in Thailand
(NikomMaelao Production / Shutterstock.com)
Today I read in a small post on page 3 of the Bangkok Post that the Thai Health Promotion Foundation found that the majority (96.9%) of seniors under the age of 69 did not need care from others and that 2% of the elderly of 80 years and older depend on outside help.
There is a warning of a sharply increasing aging population in Thailand, so you would expect a plea for more residential care centers and nursing homes, of which there is already a serious shortage. But no, own fault big bump, after all it is stated that “95% of elder Thai citizens suffer from non-communicable diseases caused by lifestyle choices during their productive working years” (I leave the translation to the reader).
Moreover, the expert continues, half of those elderly people did not do an annual health check, which would have prevented that group of health problems later on.
These statements were made on the 'National Day of the Elderly', of which I have not noticed anything beyond this little note.
In short, the elderly in Thailand will also be left to fend for themselves in the future.
Submitted by Nick Jansen
Elderly care costs money and there is not much more that can be said about it in terms of content. However, some, and certainly not people from a deprived area in the Netherlands, sometimes speak of “Dor Hout”. In the business world, where I worked for almost 40 years, I heard some "barkers", who were expressly sometimes used, meaning the older employee who was getting in the way of their personal progress.
That is clear language and it does not surprise me. People must develop and not be dependent on a government, which means that you must join forces as a family and not as a free individual.
Parents, children and grandchildren living together in a house sounds strange, but it is not. Throw all incomes together and you can buy a nice house, but the NL problem is that personal freedom is limited. The wealthy Thai see it differently and it is much cheaper than the NL road and then you also have two maids for a normal wage.
Individualism makes life more fragile and yet many go for it…
In times of increasing individualization due to financial independence and looser family ties, things are moving in the opposite direction, because people live more alone and are dependent on the government for care, which should offer care in the form of care centers, homes for the elderly and housing assistance for people home who like to stay at home. Family ties in Thailand, just like in all countries that develop further, are being let go because after all, people often live in a different place and no longer together in the village, they have enough financial resources so that their own place to live can be paid for and not necessarily with family must live in, which often brings tension and discomfort when you live together as adults and do not have your own place. Individualism does not make life more vulnerable because the vast majority can manage without help, and you may wonder whether the help of family who live together is optimal because neglect despite living together or feeling unwanted as an older person are also common , just to point something out.
That there are few nursing and rest homes in Thailand, and that if there were enough at all, are also unaffordable for most Thai families, may certainly have a truth.
Only that the elderly in Thailand are left to fend for themselves, may at most be the case on the part of the government.
The care of the elderly in the family, and the treatment of the elderly by young people, is completely different from that in the rich western industrial countries.
Many people in the (wealthy) west, who both earn a living, prefer to pay for a childcare, nanny, etc. or relegate a child as a kind of key child, who has to wait so long after school until one of the two parents has time again.
The older generation, who would often do this shelter with love, prefer to be moved to an old people's home as soon as possible.
After all, people want to be free, and that often no longer fits when visiting the elderly once a month, not always.
In Thailand, many elderly people live directly in the house, or at least on the property of these young people, so that they are greeted or cared for with great respect every day.
In the middle of the last century you saw this in the Netherlands/Europe, admittedly financially forced, even more so.
Later, when many became more and more financially independent, everyone wanted their freedom, they let others take care of the parents and children, and now often swear that this system is also becoming increasingly unaffordable.555
That untranslated phrase in your speech is illustrative!!
Also for the Dutchman, who, despite his unhealthy way of living/eating/drinking, finds it quite normal that he can 'demand' on our health care!
The Thai who lived like this is going to a 30-bath hospital!!
That should also be introduced in the Netherlands, in a less barbaric way.
Because we are oh so 'civilized'?
For the uninsured and people without a pension, ie the majority of the Thai population, the state pension in Thailand is about €50, as is the disability benefit; long live the venture capital company.
Nursing and retirement homes are unaffordable for the vast majority of the Thai population.
There is nothing else to hope that you have children, neighbors or friends with whom you have a good relationship and who also have the time and money and live nearby to help you if you need help.
However, no research is being done into the circumstances of all those other elderly people in need of help who cannot get that help.
I am sure that we would be shocked by the consequences of the harsh and disinterested Thai government and politics, if research results were to become known and how many elderly people are involved.
50 euros? 600 baht per month, from 60 years, rising to 1000 baht for people over 90..,,,
Is it so little? So that's actually nothing. Scandalous!
90% of the elderly live in a family home, possibly together with the children.
You do not pay rent and fixed costs
the government gives 25 kg of rice per month and 5 liters of sunflower oil and an extra blanket in winter.
Usually eat with the kids .
The older one has a much better social life in Thailand than in the Netherlands
Expecting that all sorts of facilities will have to be created by the government for the elderly due to the progressive aging of the population is not a correct idea. A government task like this belongs to Western countries because of their principle of wanting to be a welfare state. Look at the differences in the various countries such as BE/NL/DE, not to mention FR/SP and IT. TH has no infrastructure that guarantees care from cradle to grave. Never been, never had, never propagated. The elderly of TH will be taken care of by family connections and by private initiatives. Examples of the latter have also appeared more often on Thailandblog.
In a sense, this care from the cradle to the grave also exists in Thailand, but then for certain sectors such as for people who work in the army, the state, financial institutions, the police, etc. i
That is not correct. The Western welfare state is/was based on solidarity. What you mean is based on financial opportunity, which is reserved for certain groups/professions.
The often or almost lacking Thai government provisions for the elderly mean that the elderly in Thailand often have to rely on physical and financial care from their own families.
Many who complain to us about an old-age pension or a pension, would with all kinds of social help that is also often offered for an old-age housing option, etc. should look after their fellow sufferers in Thailand.
Our much higher standard of living and life wishes have ensured that many no longer have time to take care of our own parents, so that strangers have to take care of them.
Even for the care of our own duckweed, many no longer have time because we think we need everything to maintain our standard of living.
Of course we accept, or perhaps almost forced, any sacrifice that is necessary for this life, and increasingly lose sight of the final bill.
The final bill often includes the ever-increasing cost of caring for our own parents and children, and the interpersonal loss of relationships we still have with them.
Moreover, even among the people who have taken away this care task from us, we find more and more people who no longer want to perform this task, so that we are now often forced to bring them from developing countries.
Admittedly in Thailand one would have to change something financially and around the house for the elderly and family, but could it not be much better in the long run if our competition for more and more, which is already becoming increasingly unaffordable in terms of price?
Again, with a system, where many no longer have time for their own parents and children, are we not completely on the wrong track??
This is the advantage of many farang often being married to a younger Thai woman. If we are lucky, we will be looked after by our own wife in our very old age. Even if it's just for our money. But the latter doesn't bother me 😉
Individualization is a worldwide phenomenon. You also see this happening in Thailand. The children who live and work elsewhere, and who are therefore less likely to have the option or desire to take elderly parents into their home. Nursing homes can partly provide a solution to this. But just like in the Netherlands, only a very limited number of old people will be able to go there: only those who are really in need of help (in the Netherlands, only a small percentage live in a home, the vast majority of people live at home in combination with supportive care.” Hiding the elderly away and visiting them sporadically is really nonsense). With these trends in mind, it would be nice if Thailand also grew towards a decent welfare state with better social safety nets. The population must of course decide democratically how and what exactly. But every right-thinking person wishes his fellow man a good old age.