A nationwide homecare system will be set up to ensure elderly
people enjoy "a comfortable and less lonely" life, a top official
said yesterday.
According to a directive circulated by the State Council last
week, the government has set a goal to provide care services for
the elderly in every community of every city by 2010, Li Bengong,
deputy director of the China National Committee on Aging (CNCA)
office, told a press conference.
Comprehensive service centers for the elderly will be built in
80 percent of all rural townships, and one-third of all villages
will get a center providing cultural and medical services for
seniors.
Figures from the CNCA show that 149 million, 11.3 percent of the
population, were aged over 60 at the end of 2006, up from 10.2
percent in 2000.
However, almost 50 percent of the country's urban elderly live
apart from their children, up from about 42 percent in 2000. The
ratio is as high as 56 percent in major cities.
Yan Qingchun, deputy director of the CNCA office, said: "With
more parents of the only-child generation becoming old, the ratio
of lonely elderly families will certainly grow, and the demand for
care for the old is mounting."
A home-based eldercare system was less expensive than old folks'
homes, he said.
Yan called for additional funds from the government, as well as
donations from the private sector to help develop the new
system.
According to a survey disclosed by the CNCA yesterday, 85
percent of the elderly people surveyed in six provinces said they
preferred home-based care to nursing homes.
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Yan put it to the traditional practice of Chinese families, where
elderly and their children place great emotional attachment on
living in their own homes.
But officials have also said that a lack of facilities and
skilled nurses are major obstacles for managing the aging
population.
Li said high demand for eldercare facilities by those over 80,
half of whom can no longer care for themselves, has become the
biggest problem hindering the country's eldercare efforts.
Figures from the CNCA show existing eldercare institutions can
serve less than 1.2 percent of the aging population, compared with
a figure of about 8 percent in developed countries.
Also, while 48.5 percent of elderly in cities said in the survey
they now need home nursing, only 16 percent said they had access to
domestic services.
The country needed 1.8 million nurses to care for its elderly
population in 2006, and the number is expected to grow to 6.5
million by 2020, according to the CNCA survey.
Li said his committee is working with labor authorities to plug
the shortage.
The home care and nursing services sector is valued at 70
billion yuan.
(China Daily February 22, 2008)
