More efforts needed to improve care for elders: political advisor

The government of Hainan province should further improve its senior care system to meet the needs of elderly local residents and aged visitors from other provinces, said Gao Shuhong, a provincial political advisor. 

Gao is a member of the Hainan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and vice director of Hainan provincial nursing home. 

She noticed that during the past few years, the island has struggled with scarce senior care infrastructures and a lack of range in senior care services. The families of aged people with disabilities and dementia, for example, are usually under great pressure. 

Moreover, the development of the elder-care industry in the province has been hampered by insufficient training for nursing professionals. 

Every year, over 450,000 elderly visitors come to Hainan to escape the harsh winter in their hometown, imposing even more pressure on limited resources.  

In research, Gao found that with an aging population, the single child of a family often faces great pressure in taking care of their parents. "If the senior care service system is not well planned beforehand, the life of many old people will not be guaranteed in the future," Gao said. 

She suggested that the government should adopt classified policies to better protect the interests and rights of aged people and provide more support for those with disabilities and dementia. 

Gao also suggested increasing the income of workers in senior care organizations. 

In her nursing home, many of the employees are from other provinces. "They work very hard and are willing to serve the aged people," Gao said, "but they can't work wholeheartedly when bothered by various problems such as education of children, care for their own older family members and housing." 

Therefore, in her proposal Gao urges the government to improve and simplify the regulations and procedures of enrolment and transfer of schools for migrant workers' children. She added that we also need to advance the points-based hukou (household registration) system and provide them with more public rental housing.