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Jennifer Ngo

Somewhere in the world a person is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease every three seconds, a new international report says – and people with experience of dealing with dementia patients say services in Hong Kong are nowhere near sufficient.
The global report, released this week be Alzheimer’s Disease International, said cases of Alzheimer’s – the most common type of dementia – would likely double every 20 years.
Of the roughly 4.7 million people with dementia worldwide, close to half are in Asia.
In Hong Kong, where a low birth rate and long life expectancy are leaving society to grapple with the challenges posed by an ageing demographic, there are no public services in the community specifically to help people with dementia.
READ MORE: Hong Kong's despairing old can only wait and hope
The Hong Kong Alzheimer’s Disease Association said one in every 10 people over the age of 70 had dementia, while the figure increases to one in three for those aged over 85.
More than 50 per cent of elderly people attending day care centres had dementia, it added.
“It’s really tough taking care of family members – you can’t go at it alone honestly,” said Lau Lun-fu, who quit his teaching job in 2010 to care for his mother, who was 80 at the time. “You really need to have outside help to cope.”
Lau recalled the event that gave the first indication his mother had Alzheimer’s and prompted him to quit work to become a carer. It started with his mother going out for her usual morning tea. But she did not return and his father, in a panic, called Lau to come home at 8am.
The family pitched in to comb the Sai Wan area, where Lau’s mother had lived all her life, but found no trace of her.
“It was late at night already and I had looked everywhere and called the police. I was so worried I was already crying,” Lau said. In the end, police called at 4am to say his mother had turned up far across the city in Tseung Kwan O
“I had to quit my job to care for her. My mother is much more important than money,” he said.
WATCH: How a magician's tricks are helping improve cognition in Hong Kong's elderly people
Dr David Dai Lok-kwan, the association’s vice-chairman, said better services were needed in the community, as the number of dementia patients would increase by 140 per cent from the current 70,000 to 80,000 by 2041, the expected peak of the ageing demographic.
“In the long run, there needs to be support in community - for the elderly to be cared for in their own neighbourhood,” he said. He also called for better support for their relatives.


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Ageing society

‘You need help to cope’ – why greying Hong Kong is ill-equipped to deal with global rise in Alzheimer’s disease cases

Hong Kong society is preparing for the challenges wrought by an ageing demographic. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

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