Dr Xie Jian of Hangzhou's No. 1 People's Hospital says providing proper care is difficult. Xie, who is chief clinical psychologist, says many children don't want to hand over their parents to in-house assisted living companies because they worry about medical issues.

Old people are stubborn, Xie says, noting they don't want to pay someone to do a job, and they think they can do themselves. They also don't like being cared for by people they don't know. Sometimes their judgment is impaired.

"To take proper care of a senior citizen, a caregiver must understand basic medical treatment, have some knowledge of nursing as well as housekeeping," says Xie. "So there's a long way to go to provide good care."

Rest homes

Only 2 percent of the elderly live in special facilities, but beds are in short supply, especially in city center, says Chen Guomin, director of the welfare division of the Hangzhou Civil Affairs Bureau.

He cites an example: to get a bed in the downtown Hangzhou Social Welfare Center, more than 1,400 old people are on the waiting list. At the same time some more distant homes are only one-third occupied and thus are losing money.

"Hangzhou's old people prefer to live in a bustling hive more than in tranquil suburbs with scenery, because they are afraid of solitude," says Chen.

The Hangzhou Audit Bureau says the homes for the elderly have 19,074 beds. That means for every 100 people there are only 1.76 beds.

That's below the provincial average of 2.3 beds per 100. The international standard for developing countries calls for 3 beds per 100.

Lack of private investment in facilities is a major problem.

The audit bureau also says the number of beds of Hangzhou's private homes only accounts for 16 percent of the total number of beds, most of them being in public facilities. This is far lower than Ningbo City's 50 percent and Wenzhou City's 57 percent.

In the survey, among five Hangzhou's private homes of elderly, only one breaks even.

High initial investment is the major stumbling block to private investment, say industry experts. The average cost of one bed in a nursing facility is estimated at 100,000-150,000 yuan.

Source: Shanghai Daily