Elderly Found in Shackles’ at Unlicensed Care Home Centre

On Wednesday, Bangkok authorities raided and shut down two unlicensed elderly care centres accused of mistreating their elderly residents, including putting them in shackles.

Elderly residents were rescued from two facilities in Lat Krabang and Nong Chok districts, some of which were in a poor condition. The facilities were owned and operated by the same person.

During the raids, it was revealed that the residents were living in very poor conditions. According to officials involved in the raids, the elderly were crammed into tiny rooms of commercial buildings that had been converted into “centres” that offered elder care at affordable prices.

Among 20 elderly people living at the Nong Chok facility, one old man was found shackled in a room. Pol Col Neti Wongkulab, chief of Consumer Protection Police Division’s Sub-Division 4, said on Wednesday that the victims were taken to a state rest home.

Twenty more residents were rescued from the Lat Krabang facility, a four-story building where two Thais, two Vietnamese, and one Cambodian were hired to take care of residents, he said.

As a result, the authorities contacted the families and asked them to pick up the residents.

Elderly care centre overcrowded

Families said that they chose the facilities due to their cheaper fees than those of other care homes. The elderly whose families were unable to contact them were placed temporarily in the care of the state at the Ban Bang Khae 2 facility, said Thanasit Metphanmuang, district chief of Lat Krabang.

Earlier this week, the police received a tip from a person who applied for a job at the Lat Krabang care facility.

Dr Tares Krassanairawiwong, director-general of the Department of Health Service Support (DHSS), said the person was shocked to see how overcrowded the building was with tenants.

Doctors rescued two bed-ridden elderly people and two other individuals from a Lat Krabang care home named Di Thuk Wan (every single day is good). There was no licensing and the facilities weren’t up to standards, Dr Tares said.

A woman who owned the facility previously operated a similar facility in Chachoengsao. After the death of an elderly resident infected with Covid-19, Pol Col Neti ordered the facility closed four months ago.

He said police would attempt to get a court warrant so they could arrest the woman if she failed to respond to a summons.