Thailand’s elderly kept in cages

Thais have been shocked recently by revelations about the state of elderly care. Images like this from a care home three hours outside the capital. Residents confined to their beds in cages for up to 24 hours a day. Aunty Pat shows me the cell where she says she was confined for months. It was very hot and there was no fan or light in the cage. I only got light from the wall beside the passageway. It was extreme torture. The Sataunchai nursing home at the centre of the scandal has since been shut down. At first glance, the facilities seem adequate, but look closely and it's more like a prison than a care home. The restraints have been removed, but the cells remain. These are the cages where some of the residents say they were kept for as long as 12 months at the time. The care home, however, says they were a necessary precaution and that most people were only kept here for a couple of days. The owners say that these were security measures. Of the 120 patients, 50% had serious psychiatric disorders, and their operating licence was renewed after an inspection in August this year. And this was a licensed facility. As well as the 1,200 registered elderly care homes, it's estimated another 4,000 operate without licences. With one in five people already over the age of 60, Thailand is ageing fast, but it's not ageing well.