Shenzhen's lawmakers have approved the decision to build a high-level elderly care service system to ensure that all eligible elderly people can enjoy basic elderly care services, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported yesterday.
In light of the characteristics of the elderly population in Shenzhen, the decision puts forward an urban elderly care service model and calls for the diversified expansion of elderly care supplies and the promotion of equal, inclusive and convenient services for the elderly.
Meanwhile, social forces and business entities are encouraged to provide elderly care services, according to the decision.
The city will also implement the country’s preferential tax policies and administrative fee reduction policies for the development of the elderly care service industry and promote cooperation in elderly care services with Hong Kong and Macao.
In terms of a care service network, the decision requires each district and new area to build at least one district-level nursing home, and each subdistrict shall be equipped with at least one comprehensive elderly care facility providing such services as short-term care, day care, home-based care and medical care.
The city will see to it that newly-built residential communities are equipped with elderly care facilities and add them to older communities using methods ranging from outsourcing services to upgrading mismanaged ones.
To address the nursing problems of disabled seniors and the old aged, the decision proposes exploring the establishment of a long-term nursing insurance system with multi-channel financing and sustainable operation.
This means that in addition to the five basic social insurances, Shenzhen will explore the implementation of a brand-new social insurance called long-term care insurance to provide security for the disabled elderly.
The city also mulls setting up nursing leave to help only children take care of their parents.
For most of the elderly, it is best not to leave home. To this end, the decision proposes developing embedded elderly care services and ensures that communities provide day care, temporary care, door-to-door services, medical care and other services for the elderly in their homes.
It also calls for strengthening service supplies for seniors, developing community elderly education and encouraging the elderly to engage in the dissemination of cultural and technological knowledge.
By the end of 2018, there were more than 320,000 registered elderly people in the city, accounting for 7 percent of the total registered population of the city.
It is estimated that by 2029, the number of people over 60 years old in Shenzhen will increase to over 700,000, and the number of permanent senior residents will exceed 1.3 million.