City outlines future for rehabilitation aids

An international rehabilitation aids industry forum was held on Monday at the third China International Import Expo, with officials, experts, professors and business representatives sharing views of how the industry will develop.

"Shanghai will establish a diversified payment system for rehabilitation devices combining various insurance means such as long-term nursing insurance targeting the elderly, medical treatment insurance and commercial insurance," Zhu Qinhao, director of the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau, told the International Rehabilitation Aids Industry Innovation Forum.

The city will also research including rehabilitation devices in the city's medical insurance reimbursement system, said Zhu.

Authorities will encourage commercial insurance companies to develop financial products catering to rehabilitation device suppliers.

Shanghai will also establish a database on intellectual property rights and promote integration of 5G technology and the rehabilitation industry, said Zhu.

The city also plans to establish a team of 10,000 consultants in rehabilitation device technologies, Zhu said.

Regular experience activities will be conducted, enabling residents to experience the world’s latest devices.

A rehabilitation device industrial park of the Yangtze River Delta region is on the agenda, he said.

Qingpu District has a number of large hospitals and is one of the six biomedicine industry bases in Shanghai, home to many medicine companies, said Yu Xufeng, governor of the district.

"The district is stepping up efforts in promoting senior rehabilitation, senior care and medical treatment industries," he told the forum.

The rehabilitation device industry has huge development potential in China, said Chen Hongmin, a professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Shanghai's population of senior citizens grew 2.9 percent in 2019 from a year earlier, accounting for more than 35 percent of permanent residents.

There were 5.18 million people aged 60 or above in the city at the end of 2019, or 35.2 percent of permanent residents. 

Ti Gong