They were charging between $1,200 and $1,800 a month - far more than he could afford on his salary of under $4,000, which also supports his three-child family. His working wife also looks after her own parents.

He did the next best thing and got his mother a place in a home across the Causeway for $600 a month.

This is how his mum, Madam Leong Mew Peng, 80, came to live in Spring Valley Homecare in Johor Bahru (JB), less than half an hour's drive from the Causeway.

Fellow Singaporean Alison Low, 58, checked herself into Spring Valley over two years ago - also for cost reasons - though she would have preferred to live in a home here.

The three-year-old home now has 11 Singaporeans, making up one in five residents there.

Of 10 other homes The Straits Times enquired at in JB, eight said they had between one and 10 Singaporeans.

Checks with their kin showed cost-savings to be the main draw of these homes, some of which have facilities comparable to those offered here.

A plug for these homes came in Parliament on Monday from Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan, who said Singaporeans could save money by using Johor Bahru nursing homes.

For what it costs to board someone in a private nursing home here, 'you can stretch it easily to pay for at least 2 1/2 months of nursing home care in Johor Bahru', he said.

Read the full report in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.