The South Korean government is distributing over 2,500 location trackers to dementia care centres across the country to prevent wandering elderly patients with dementia from getting lost.

The initiative is part of an ongoing public-private partnership between the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW), the National Police Agency (NPA), and local chip maker SK Hynix, which is providing funding worth 400 million won (around $250,000) each year from 2021 up to 2024 to the project.

The wrist-worn device allows carers to check on the patient's location and movement through a connected mobile app. It will alert them should a wearer go off a preset area or initiate an emergency call should it be needed. The NPA is also using the app to track patients should they wander off. 

Senior patients whose biometric data are already recorded at dementia care centres will be prioritised for the distribution of the location trackers, according to a media release.

WHY IT MATTERS

South Korea's population is fast ageing with people aged 65 and above making up about 16% of the population or around 8.6 million last year. As the population ages, so do cases of dementia increase – between 2015 and 2019, senior folks who are clinically diagnosed with the condition rose from 5.9% to 7.3% or about 588,000.

THE LARGER TREND

The Myongji Hospital in the Gyeonggi Province has recently developed an AI-driven care robot called PIO to assist patients with dementia. The robot, which resembles a parrot, has a camera to recognise its user's face and facial expressions and is able to express emotions through its LED eyes and body movements.

This robot development is one of the many projects in South Korea which seek to alleviate loneliness and symptoms of mental health conditions across the country. A district in the capital Seoul, for example, has recently deployed an AI robot dubbed Channy to serve as a personal companion for single-living adults. 

ON THE RECORD

"We will do our best to create a dementia-friendly society where dementia patients and their families can live with peace of mind through this public-private collaboration for dementia awareness and improve dementia prevention projects," said Kim Hye-young, head of the Dementia Policy Department at MOHW.