Authorities mull law for ailing seniors

China is planning to establish a legal framework to boost elderly care targeting seniors with disabilities to meet surging demands in a rapidly aging society, said Lu Zhiyuan, minister of civil affairs.

Official data shows that China has about 35 million disabled elderly, who make up 11.6 percent of the nation's elderly population. That number is expected to climb to 46 million by 2035 and 58 million by 2050, he said in a report delivered to an ongoing session of the National People's Congress Standing Committee on Tuesday.

The incidence rate of chronic diseases among the elderly is four times that of the total population, and on average, the elderly live over eight years after being diagnosed.

To assist them better, Lu said that China has constructed more elderly care facilities and has issued subsidies for them in the past decade.

By the end of last year, the proportion of nursing beds among all beds at elderly care homes nationwide had risen to about 59 percent, and 67 percent of all seniors admitted into these homes live with disabilities.

Meanwhile, nearly 3.67 million older adults who live alone and have severe diseases, disabilities or other difficulties can now receive stable assistance and support from the government, and about 5.63 million seniors who are struggling financially are eligible to receive nursing care or elderly care subsidies.

However, Lu said current welfare and assistance policies are limited to seniors who are very poor, overlooking the needs of those who come from middle-income families or those who live on a tight budget.

In addition, the number of elderly care facilities remains inadequate, and the system is immature, according to the minister.

"Public senior care homes are still in the process of reforming, while private, for-profit facilities have complained about minimal profits," Lu said.

"While it is difficult to find an available bed in cities, a large number of slots are sitting idle in rural regions."

There is also a shortage of elderly care workers, and existing staff members tend to lack training, receive low salaries and do not feel valued for their work.

"The annual rate of staff turnover is higher than 30 percent," he said.

To address these challenges, Lu said authorities will begin considering a legal framework focusing on care for disabled seniors.

Concerted efforts will be devoted to establishing more grassroots public elderly care institutions, developing neighborhood-based care facilities closer to residential communities and adding more nursing beds.

He added that the provision of public, affordable and basic elderly care services should be strengthened, and home-based elderly care should be enhanced.

Lu also proposed recruiting people who have been lifted out of poverty, capable villagers and relatively younger seniors in rural areas to work in the elderly care industry.

With the rapid advancement of smart technologies, Lu called for more research and development of caregiving robots, brain-computer interfaces and artificial intelligence to help elderly people regain their vision, hearing, memory and motor control and to aid or replace human caregivers.