Better senior care on the cards this year

Shanghai will add an extra 7,000 beds at senior care homes and another 1,000 beds will be renovated for seniors with dementia this year.

Eighty senior day care service centers and 40 community-based comprehensive senior service centers will be built in the city this year.

There will be 200 new venues providing meals for the elderly in communities, and construction of more community-based nursing homes which provide short-term services to seniors has been beefed up.

By 2022, there will be 1,600 community-based canteens for the elderly in the city, serving about 5 percent of Shanghai's senior citizens above 65 years of age. The current 800 such venues serve about 80,000 meals a day.

Priorities are seniors with disabilities, those living alone or without children, and those in financial difficulty, according to the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau.

Shanghai aims to create a senior care service circle in downtown districts which will allow the elderly to enjoy meals, day care, or medical treatment services within 15 minutes of their homes, according to the bureau.

The city has set up 104 spots where senior care consultants offer advice on senior care resources and services to about 200,000 people. The goal is to have consultancy services available at every sub-district in the city this year.

Authorities will also tap the probability of turning spare resources in downtown areas into senior care facilities this year to satisfy rising demand.

A comprehensive nursing system for seniors suffering from dementia will be built up, with standards on facility construction and accommodation assessment worked out.

About 200,000 seniors in the city suffer from dementia, and that figure is rising — the current facilities and beds can not meet demand.

The city's civil affairs authorities are creating a senior care agency credibility system, and the ratings of more than 170 senior care homes finished.

The number of people aged 60 and above totaled 4.84 million in Shanghai at the end of 2017, accounting for 33.2 percent of permanent residents.