环球见闻录 April 8th

Hello and welcome to Postcards, a show helping you reach across borders without actually taking a trip. I'm Shen Ting. The cost of caring for Alzheimer's patients is rising sharply in the West and more and more families are considering whether their elderly relatives would receive better care in countries like Thailand where round the clock attention is much cheaper. Resorts in Thailand are being built to cater specifically for Swiss and German patients, but the growing market has been described as "gerontological colonialism" in the German press. Here's Xu Fei with today's first postcard from Thailand. Reporter: A former landscape painter Susanna Kuratli is enjoying the sun and the scenery in the park in Faham Village. But despite being in one of Thailand's most popular tourist destinations, this isn't a pleasurable trip for Kuratli, or her husband Ulrich. Susanna Kuratli is 65 years old and has Alzheimer's. Now her husband and their children are facing the heart rending decision of whether to keep her in Thailand. Back home in Switzerland they can't afford to give her the 24 hour care she needs. Kuratli was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease two and a half years ago and has been living here at a care home in the local Thai village since late October.�� Ulrich Kuratli works in IT, but his job is 9,000 kilometers away. Although his homeland treats the elderly well, Ulrich Kuratli says the care there is not only much more expensive but impersonal and regimented.�� Kuratli and his three grown children have given themselves six months to decide what to do. If Susanna Kuralti settles in well, her husband will alternate two months in Switzerland and two months with her here at "Baan Kamlangchay" which in Thai means "Home for Care from the Heart". Here, patients live in individual houses within a Thai community. They're taken to local markets, temples and restaurants and each is watched over 24 hours a day by three caregivers. The monthly cost of 3,800 US dollars is a third of what basic institutional care would come to in Switzerland.�� "In this village, there are restaurants, dogs, children and shops. There is no border so you can run around and it is good. And the carers dress casually. They don't wear uniforms and it makes you feel relaxed. In hospital, even the most beautiful nurse, when they wear a uniform, I feel scared." In their room is a calendar with a photograph of one of Susanna Kuratli's own paintings. The scene is of their holiday home in Switzerland. "I am jealous of the caregivers' ability. They do a better job of taking care of my wife than I do. When we were at home, she would not listen to me. For example, when I suggested some clothes for her (to put on), she would argue. But here, she follows the advice of the carers." Spouses and relatives in Western nations are increasingly confronting Kurtali's dilemma as the number of Alzheimer's patients and costs rise, and the supply of qualified nurses and facilities struggles to keep up. Ulrich Kuratli says the Swiss government would cover two-thirds of the bill for his wife's care if she stays in Switzerland, but since high-end private clinics there can cost 15,000 US dollars or more per month, he could still end up paying more there than he would in Thailand. The nascent trend is unnerving to some experts who say uprooting people with Alzheimer's will add to their sense of displacement and anxiety, though others say quality of care is more important than location. Patients are even moving from Switzerland, which was ranked No. 1 in health care for the elderly last year in an index compiled by the elderly advocacy group Help Age International and the U.N. Population Fund. The Philippines is offering Americans care for 1,500 to 3,500 US dollars a month, as compared to 6,900 US dollars that the American Elder Care Research Organization says is the average monthly bill for a private room in a skilled U.S nursing facility. The U.K. based Alzheimer's Disease International says there are more than 44 million Alzheimer's patients globally, and the figure is projected to triple to 135 million by 2050. The Alzheimer's Association estimates that in the U.S. alone, the disease will cost 203 billion US dollars this year and soar to 1.2 trillion US dollars by 2050. The pioneering "Baan Kamlangchay" was established by Martin Woodtli ten years ago. Woodtli, a Swiss national, spent four years in Thailand with the aid group "Doctors Without Borders" before returning home to care for his Alzheimer's diagnosed mother. He wanted to return to Thailand knowing the culture regards the elderly with great respect. His mother became the home's first "guest." Woodtli never uses the word "patient." He has purchased or rented eight two-story houses where 13 Swiss and German patients now reside. Two people normally share the modest but well-kept, fully furnished houses, each sleeping in a separate bedroom along with their carer. Breakfast and lunch are eaten together at another residence where Woodtli, his wife and son live. "Some of our guests, they don't know whether they live in Thailand or in Switzerland or wherever. They have a feeling of to be (being) at home when they receive good care, warm care, tenderness. And that's why they feel like (being) at home. As an example, my mother, she said to a caretaker one time "Look, in this house, I went to school when I was a child." So what happens is that sometimes, they take their own past here, and they live it here." However he doesn't view what he's doing as a solution for everyone. Most go for short-term treatments, but a growing number are seeking long-term care for diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.