AI tools for elderly care in Bangkok

A man found that an older relative in his care, who has stage 3B kidney disease, had bought three medicines from a nearby pharmacist without mentioning the kidney problem, and only noticed pills lying on the table. He asked Pantip in the evening because he had no time to go back, then stopped the medicine until a hospital visit next day. Another caregiver asked if a four-times-a-day antibiotic still works when poor appetite pushes doses 1 to 3 hours apart, and got answers of 'at least 4' and '4 to 6 hours'. Both are sorting it out on a forum at night.

A man living with parents aged 70 to 75 says they take turns falling sick almost every week, so he takes leave for hospital runs, wakes at night to mix medicine, and drives to the ER between midnight and 4 AM. He has microsleeps at the wheel and nearly crashed, but cannot quit because he is the only earner. Another poster describes an acquaintance who works, hires a day carer, picks up a primary-school child and nurses a mother who can't walk, and commenters say people hire two shifts of carers. A third poster says a bedridden brother's rehab center costs 20,000 to 30,000 baht a month and the siblings can't agree who pays.

A Siriraj Hospital study of 155 dementia caregivers found 40 percent reported burden, and poorer quality of life tracked with financial problems, long daily hours, the caregiver's own illness and caring for other dependents. A study of 226 caregivers at three Bangkok memory clinics found that patients' behavior problems drove caregiver depression through burden, explaining 51.4 percent of depression.

A 2024 survey cited by The Nation found about 1.8 million older Thais living alone, nearly four times 30 years earlier, with cities especially exposed; researchers suggest alerts based on electricity and water use. A Pantip son who left his nearly 70-year-old mother alone installed CCTV and still worried.

At Rom Klao in Lat Krabang the Nation Foundation used boats to reach residents; elderly people in Soi 17 stayed on second floors and lowered baskets to collect food, and ready-to-eat food was needed most because many elders struggled to wade out for meals.