Chongqing- Luo Shaoying, a member of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and President and CEO of DIMA Holdings Co., Ltd., submitted a proposal on elderly care issues during the 5th session of the 5th Chongqing Municipal Committee of the CPPCC.

Luo Shaoying, a member of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and President and CEO of DIMA Holdings Co., Ltd. (iChongqing file photo)

The status quo of the aging population

Chongqing now has 32.05 million permanent residents, of which 7.01 million are people aged 60 or above (21.87%), including 5.47 million people aged 65 or above (17.08%), citing data from the seventh national census.

Luo discovered that elderly care in Chongqing featured a "9073 pattern" during a survey. This means that 90% of the aged receive community-based home care, 7% receive community care, and 3% receive institution-based care. It proves that communities are the center for elderly care.

"Supporting communities' facilities have not yet met the needs," said Luo.

Convenient access to medical treatment is essential for the aged because they have high morbidity and many chronic diseases. However, under current circumstances, sub-district community healthcare centers can not meet their needs.

Luo gave an example, the aged who live in Yubei District need to walk 43 minutes or take 39 minutes by bus to visit the community healthcare center.

In addition, there is an imbalance between supply and demand in institutions, service personnel, and smart devices of elderly care in the city.

Suggestions for improvements

In terms of expanding supply, she suggested encouraging non-state players to start elderly care and medical service institutions through a market-oriented operation.

A nursing home in Chongqing. (iChongqing file photo)

She suggested that community-level elderly care and medical services should be decentralized to sub-districts, and to enjoy fewer supply costs, preferential policies of taxes and dues, investment, financing, and land support.

The supply of medical staff in community-level medical institutions also should be expanded, especially for family doctors, making them the "first-person" in-home health services through family doctor contracting services.

Luo stressed the need to build a community-based big data platform for smart elderly care, to enhance the concerted efforts of hospitals, community medical institutions, and families.

"We should carry out pilot projects in some typical communities to provide a model for other parts of Chongqing," Luo said.

In addition, she also suggested strengthening insurance guarantees in the integrated services of "medical treatment-nursing-care-insurance."