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Aid Devices for Elderly and Disabled
MCOT
Thailand
March 17, 2005
Extensive use of technology to develop devices for senior citizens and disabled people will play a vital role in improving their quality of life, the director of the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centrer (NECTEC),
Taweesak Koanantakool, said on Wednesday.
Senior citizens will make up more than 10 percent of the Thai population by the end of this year, while the disabled will be about10 percent, he said.
One in four of the elderly will suffer from some form of disability, he noted.
Another six percent of them will be dependent on other people, said Mr.
Taweesak, during a seminar at the Public Health Ministry.
The government is currently working on three projects -- a reading aid for blind people, a hearing aid using solar energy and a robotic machine for remote eye surgery, Dr Pannate Pangwuthiphong, Director of Metta Pracharak Hospital, or known as Wat Rai Khing Hospital, in the central province of Nakhon Pathom, told the seminar.
Dr Daranee Suwaphan, Director of the Sirindhorn National Medical Rehabilitation Centre, urged inventors and researchers to produce medical equipment that would help lower the cost of treatment for the elderly and the disabled in Thailand, and reduce the import of expensive equipment.
She said the production of artificial knee joints, wheelchairs and walkers could potentially be made in Thailand.
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