Xinjiang Lowers Standards on Elderly Care Institutions

The requirement on the standards of setting up an elderly care institution in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has recently been loosened up, including the requirement on the minimum number of beds provided by an elderly care institution for senior citizens being lowered from the original 30 to only 10.

The requirement was stipulated in an official document on the implementation regulations of the establishment approval of elderly care institutions in Xinjiang, issued recently by the Civil Affairs Bureau of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Before officially receiving establishment approval, no elderly care institutions are allowed to enroll senior citizens or to charge fees.

The new document lays down detailed regulations on the application, acceptance of application, examination and verification of application documents and materials, and will affect the decision-making and supervision of the methods through which elderly care institutions' attain establishment approval.

The new requirements mean that applicants now only need to apply to their local civil affairs offices for the establishment of elderly care institutions, and within 20 working days, the relevant civil affairs offices should finish a formal examination of all the application documents and materials and also make an on-site verification of the elderly care institutions.

There are more than 2.4 million people over 60 in Xinjiang, accounting for over 10 percent of the total population of the autonomous region. Among these senior citizens in Xinjiang, there are altogether 453,100 empty-nester, and 117,400 physicallly and mentally challenged seniors, which has become a great demand on elderly care services. The Xinjiang government has also set a goal that the number of beds for senior citizens in elderly care institutions can account for no less than 60 percent of all the beds needed by seniors in Xinjiang by 2020.

(Source: people.com.cn/ Translated and edited by Women of China)