Shenzhen's legislature is considering instituting holidays for the only child of a family to take care of his or her elderly parents, according to a draft that is seeking public opinion.
The draft plan on building a high-level nursing system for the elderly, unveiled on the official website of the Standing Committee of Shenzhen Municipal People’s Congress, envisages a new elderly care system from 10 perspectives, including planning, facilities, talents and institutions. Statistics from Shenzhen Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau showed that the city was home to 1.14 million elderly people, of whom one-third held Shenzhen permanent residency permits, at the end of 2018. In 10 years, the number of elderly people will double.
To build a high-level service system, the city needs to establish an allowance system for the elderly, build more nursing homes and give priority to poverty-stricken families.
According to the draft plan, new housing estates will each have nursing facilities for the elderly, and the facilities will be centrally managed by related government agencies. Existing housing estates without nursing facilities for the elderly will need to make up the shortfall through purchases, exchange or construction.
Each district should have at least one exemplary and demonstration district-level nursing home for the elderly, and each subdistrict should have at least one short-term or daily nursing home.
The government also encourages private investment in the elderly nursing market. The government will offer subsidies for beds at elderly and nursing services. Privately run nursing homes using government-owned properties will enjoy rental exemptions.
The fees for the nursing homes funded by private investments will be decided by the market. For long-term development, the city will work out plans for the cultivation of professionals in nursing for the elderly, and improve the skill accreditation of nursing employees and salary standards for caretakers.