For the elderly
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Social communities to take care of senior residents is badly needed, and foot-dragging will have severe consequences as the country's population above the age of 60 is set to rise by about 8 million every year.
Vice-Minister of Civil Affairs Dou Yupei revealed recently that the central government is pushing governments at all levels to establish a scheme to provide subsidies to elderly residents who are too old to take care of themselves, or do not have enough pension to support themselves, which is in the right direction.
Beijing already provides subsidies to senior residents above the age of 80. Each gets a 100-yuan subsidy in coupons a month, which can be used to order food from nearby restaurants.
This is just the beginning of the country's plan to establish a fully fledged system to take care of its elderly residents.
Currently there are more than 30,000 homes for the elderly nationwide, with more than 2.5 million beds. But this accounts for only 1.59 percent of the entire elderly population, much lower than the 5 to 7 percent in developed countries and even lower than the 2 to 3 percent in some developing countries.
True, the problems won't be solved without development. Yet, defining development remains a problem. Quite a number of local government leaders consider only big construction projects development.
Overemphasis on construction ignores the other side of development - that we should make life easier for residents.
Enough care and attention to senior residents is part of that development. With the rapid increase in the number of aged residents, there will be a great demand for nurses and specialized medical workers.
Services provided to the elderly will be a huge business that helps create a lot of jobs.
Fortunately, the central government is sensible enough to know what to do.
Minister of Civil Affairs Li Liguo emphasized recently that much was being done to establish homes for the elderly in communities and promote all-round community services for elderly residents during the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015).
The minister said that the number of homes for the aged would be increased to accommodate at least 3 percent of the elderly population in the next five years.
Hopefully, local governments will be sensible enough to realize the urgency of pre-empting any pending crisis created by an aging society.
They should also realize that paying enough attention to this work has something to do with the transformation of development mode, which is the major target the central government has proposed for the 12th Five-Year Plan development program.
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