The regional joint venture, set up recently by individual investors from Malaysia and Thailand, is set to expand its services to other potential markets in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, later this year.

Kronus (Thailand) will next year invest US$15 million (Bt524 million) in pioneering a retirement community complex in Bangkok. The complex will have facilities such as a full-time doctor's station, clinic and exercise equipment, and offer seniors and retirees from around the world long-stay services with independent living in a relaxing and safe environment.

Peter Quah, CEO of Kronus MobiCare, said the company planned to address some of the issues and challenges posed by the rapidly "greying" societies of Southeast Asia.

"The proportion of elderly people [65 and above] in Thailand has increased from only 6 per cent of the total population in 2000 to about 9 per cent currently. And according to a UN estimate, about 14 per cent of the Thai population will be considered elderly by 2025," said Quah.

Quah holds a one-third stake in Kronus (Thailand), which has registered capital of Bt2 million. Two Thai shareholders, Kritkorn Ratanopas and Natthaphat Leenutapong, hold equal stakes and serve as executive directors of the company. It has four permanent staff and nursing specialists and plans to increase this to 20 by year-end.

Quah said caring for seniors at home, especially those with health concerns or chronic illnesses, could be demanding and logistically complicated, not only for the seniors themselves but also for their busy working adult children.

This is more so in today's increasingly nuclear families, often with both spouses working, thus leaving their elderly parents at home alone or with an untrained maid, he said.

"We are not competing against nursing homes. We offer a new choice of health-support services in which the elderly can stay in their own homes," said Quah.

He added that there were five major nursing homes in Thailand - two of them state-sponsored and the other three privately owned. With fees of between Bt8,000 and Bt9,000 a month, these nursing homes offer only basic services such as providing meals and utilities.

"Our Kronus MobiCare health-support services will focus on knowledge-based decisions on what the proper care system should be both for the person and environment," said Quah.

The charge per visit is Bt1,500 for one to one-and-a-half hours.

Kritkorn said that it was quite important to understand the complex issues associated with ageing because elders with multiple chronic illnesses often display non-typical signs. Effective care thus requires a well-coordinated approach that involves doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, dieticians, as well as the elderly themselves, their families and their primary care-givers. If these age-related changes are detected and understood early, it can significantly delay the onset of rapid deterioration, he said.

Kritkorn said the Kronus MobiCare's gerontology nurses would be supported by the company's network of specialist doctors, senior nurses and therapists based in Thailand, as well as in Australia and Singapore. The company's care procedures are based on US-specified and internationally accepted guidelines on quality care for the elderly.

Natthaphat said the company planned to expand its services beyond Bangkok to other major cities in Thailand, and to other service areas related to care of the elderly, namely functional aids and equipment.

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn

The Nation