Taizhou listed as national pilot city for elderly care
chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2020-03-26
Print PrintTaizhou, East China's Zhejiang province, was recently listed as a national pilot city for elderly care, according to local media reports.
The list was released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Finance. Those that made the list will receive financial support from the central government to promote the reform of elderly care in homes and communities.
Taizhou is currently home to 3,446 community senior care centers and 80 township-level senior care centers. Its catering and distribution services cover 1,773 urban and rural communities, according to Li Xiaobing, an official from the Taizhou municipal bureau of civil affairs.
In addition, a total of 3,382 senior care centers (98.14 percent of the total) across the city have formed partnerships with medical institutions.
The city has also been promoting online elderly care services, and the elderly can access professional services by dialing "967890" at home.
Over the next few years, Taizhou will explore the integrated development of elderly care in the form of institutions, communities, and homes.
It also plans to construct elderly care towns and further streamline administrative procedures for elderly care to set an example for other cities around the nation.
As of September last year, 1.25 million people in the city were over 60 years old, accounting for 20.66 percent of the city's population, 1.96 percentage points higher than the provincial average.
According to internationally recognized standards, a country or region with more than 10 percent of its population over 60 years old or more than 7 percent of its population over 65 years old is classified as an "aging society".