By Yun Suh-young
The Ministry of Health and Welfare is considering adopting a GPS system to find the elderly diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease if they go missing.
The ministry said the GPS device could be attached to a belt or necklace and would facilitate the tracking process of Alzheimer’s patients if they become lost.
The service, however, would be available only when a pilot project already underway is determined to have no glitches. The Chungnam Provincial Police Agency began the service voluntarily earlier this month.
“We are considering adopting the GPS system for the elderly with Alzheimer’s disease so that their families can quickly find them when they don’t return after leaving their residential areas. The police agency is currently running a pilot project and we will begin the service if it proves to be successful,” said a ministry official.
“Usually those with the disease tend to refuse to put on any device so we will have to examine whether the system receives positive feedback. We will also carefully consider whether there are any parts that violate human rights.”
At the moment, those with Alzheimer’s wear identification tags that say they have the disease.
The police agency began testing the GPS tracking system because too much police manpower was being used to find Alzheimer patients who go missing.
“We have collaborated with the Chungnam Provincial Office and KT, a national telecommunications company, and created the system on July 2,” said a police officer.
“We plan to try the system out on 520 patients in seven cities. We’re currently at the stage of distributing the devices,” he said.
“We’re receiving applications from families to be part of the test project and 178 had signed up as of last Tuesday. It is too early to be receiving feedback as we’re still at the distribution stage but it will save a lot of time and money for the police if the system is adopted.”
As of last year, the number of Alzheimer’s patients numbered 495,000 but it is expected to rise to 750,000 by 2020. About 9.1 percent of the 5.45 million of the elderly suffers from the disease and about 20 go missing every day.