北京215家公办养老院将转民营

The pilot program aims to reform the senior-care sector and boost the role of family and community care.

The plan will see some seniors' care centers remain state owned, but run by non-governmental organizations or individuals, while others will be completely privately owned and operated.

Li Hongbing, Deputy Director of Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau, says the reforms should help to redistribute resources, allowing more elderly people to enjoy proper services in care centers.

"The move aims to let nursing homes return to their original nature, playing a role as public service institution. We hope it may allow the society to contribute more in this industry, and have more professional staff providing professional services."

After the changes, local governments will not charge rents to private nursing homes, helping to keep costs low for elderly residents and letting operators focus on providing better services.

Meantime, state-owned public care centers will concentrate on taking care of aged people with special needs, like those who are disabled and those over the age of 70 who do not have a child to assist them in their care.

However, there are problems in current private care-homes and most Chinese seniors are not satisfied with prices.

China has about 5.5 million beds in nursing homes nationwide. That's about 26 beds per 1,000 people, however, 48 percent of the beds are empty.

Wu Yushao with the national office on aging points out that there is a structural problem in China's senior-care industry.

"Most of the care centers in the market are either too luxurious, or too simple and crude. There are few intermediate-level nursing homes out there with proper facilities and affordable prices which most people need. This is why a large number of elderly now have unmet demands."

The government is working on other plans to help private nursing homes develop and better meet the demands of seniors.

Professor Lu Jiehua with Peking University also says since 90 percent of the elderly in China still choose to depend on their families or the communities, but this is an area that's also in need of improvement.

"When it comes to future development concerning Chinese people's traditional habits, how to improve home care and community care may be more important for us. For instance, Beijing has proposed the idea to establish community reception centers and caring services inside families. These are the next step of reform, which may be more difficult. "

Over 210 million people on the Chinese mainland were over 60 years old as of the end of last year, with nearly 40 million unable to care for themselves. By 2050, those aged over 60 are expected to account for 35 percent of nation's population.

For CRI, I'm Niu Honglin.