Basic nationwide elderly care service system a step closer

By the end of last year, the ministry said that about 235,000 homebased elderly care beds had been set up and 418,000 seniors had received door-to-door elderly care services at home. Nearly 1.5 million households with seniors had seen their homes upgraded to be more elderly-friendly.

The number of elderly care facilities nationwide topped 400,000, with 8.2 million beds, by the end of September. The ministry said 41,000 were elderly care homes, with the remainder community facilities.

Wu Yuxian, a 94-year-old resident of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, was used to picking up meals by herself at a nearby public canteen. But out of safety concerns, the local community and her neighbors began ordering dishes online for her and delivering meals to her doorstep in recent years.

"I read a lot of newspapers every day and feel that my life is very fulfilling," she said during a recent interview with China National Radio. "I prefer staying in my home rather than going into a care home because in my neighborhood, I can still see a lot of young people around."

At the Beishan neighborhood where Wu lives, there are about 10,260 people age 60 and older, accounting for 30 percent of residents.

As part of efforts to develop a basic system for elderly care services, Hangzhou's city government called in August for each major neighborhood to build a community center capable of offering elderly care services by 2025.

Hu Xiaodong, an official in the Beishan neighborhood, said it had transformed a public facility into an elderly care service provider where seniors with disabilities can be admitted to beds and given access to professional care, while seniors like Wu who prefer to spend the rest of their lives at home can enjoy daily services such as meal deliveries and medical care.