Singapore, Macau, Japan: Other Asian territories are preparing for dementia 'explosion' but Hong Kong 'has ignored it'

Hong Kong will be unable to handle the explosion of dementia patients over the coming years, experts warn, and the problem swept under the carpet for so long has become a monster which will threaten to overwhelm the city.

A large part of the problem was that the government had done nothing since 1997 in terms of long-term planning for medical and social services in preparation for a fast-growing elderly population, said University of Hong Kong social work professor Law Chi-kwong.

"Our problem is that we've ignored it - nothing long-term has been formulated by the government since the handover," said Law. "I am afraid that the monster under the carpet could overwhelm us."

What is even more worrisome is how the government - despite lobbying by grassroots groups to put in place subsidised and dementia-specific care - remains reluctant to plan for the future.

Hong Kong currently has an estimated 80,000 people with dementia, but only 2,000 receive government support services. Hong Kong's diagnosis rate is also low - at just over 10 per cent.

According to a 2006 report by the firm Access Economics for Asia-Pacific members of the worldwide organisation, Alzheimer's Disease International, the prevalence rate - the percentage of the population which is estimated to have dementia - would rise to 3.59 per cent in Hong Kong in 2050.

The rate is much higher than South Korea's projected 1.19 per cent and India's 1.02 per cent in the same year. But it is comparable to Japan's 4.34 per cent and Singapore's 3.58 per cent.