Govt may copy Japan's model of elderly care
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Health minister lauds country's social scheme to manage 'rapid changes'
The government is pondering adopting certain features of the Japanese social security scheme, especially additional care for senior citizens, Public Health Minister Pradit Sinthawanarong said yesterday.
He said the ideas followed visit to Japan by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
One key change would be the setting up of an insurance fund which people could contribute to from the age of 40 – then receive a return when they turn 65. They could also make contributions via deductions from their salaries throughout their career, Pradit said.
Japan has faced a fast-paced growth in retirees – from seven to 14 per cent in a 25-year period. This compares to a similar rise in Europe, including France, Germany and the UK, over some 50 to 120 years.
The fast growth has required large funding from the Japanese government.
Pradit said continued funding had come till now via annual budgets, which have amounted to 21 trillion yen (Bt6 trillion). But under a new management, which focuses on cost effectiveness, the state funding burden had dropped. Among solutions which reduced the cost was taking care of the elderly in communities and clinics by volunteer carers, instead of hospitals.
MILLIONS WITH MEMORY LOSS
By 2050, people older than 65 will make up 50 per cent of the entire Japanese population, with another 30 per cent of working age. The number of senior citizens with Alzheimer’s or memory recall problems has increased from two million to five million over the past decade, Pradit said, citing details provided by Japanese authorities.
Pradit said Japanese officials had advised Thailand to start adopting changes by now, as Thailand would be faced with a jump in elderly people over a 22-year period – even shorter than what the Japanese have seen.
After a meeting with Japanese officials, headed by Katsunori Hara, director- general of the Health and Welfare Bureau for the Elderly, Pradit said Yingluck was impressed by the Japanese social security scheme, which focused on improving health of the elderly. The PM had suggested setting up a programme to study the Japanese module, through subsidies from the Social Security Office and the Womens’ Funds.
Deputy permanent-secretary to the ministry, Charnwit Tharathep, supported Yingluck’s idea, after meeting with a Japanese public welfare expert Prof Tomonori Hasegawa. He said the speedy implementation of Yingluck’s policy was key to success to the social changes Thailand will face.
