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Jiaxing civil affairs bureau holds a news conference to announce new measures to improve its services for the elderly. [Photo/cnjxol.com]

Jiaxing authorities will roll out measures to improve the quality of its elderly services on Jan 1, 2022, according to a news conference held by the Jiaxing civil affairs bureau on Dec 22.

As of Nov 30, Jiaxing was home to more than 1 million registered senior citizens aged above 60. Senior citizens account for 27 percent of the city's total population and the ratio is expected to increase to 29 percent by 2025 when the registered elderly population is expected to exceed 1.13 million.

In the near future, senior citizens in the city would be able to access home-based care service centers within a 15-minute walk, according to officials from the Jiaxing civil affairs bureau.

Jiaxing will also increase government subsidies to improve the service of home-based care service for senior citizens.

The home-based care service centers in subdistricts and communities will have different areas of focus, with the former centered on rehabilitation, psychological counseling, and rental of rehabilitation-assistive devices. The latter will focus on entertainment, food delivery and health care.

Jiaxing will also support the operation of home-based care service facilities by professional institutions, which are also allowed to offer services to elderly citizens.

The city will encourage local vocational schools to introduce disciplines related to elderly care to train more talents and support the construction of training bases for elderly care workers.

The city is aiming to have 27 qualified elderly care workers per 10,000 senior citizens by 2025.