Nursing home woes

With a monthly pension of 2,200 yuan ($322), Li, if she wants, can afford to live in a mediocre nursing home in her city.

However, for a great number of seniors, especially those in rural areas, they are not able to afford such facilities, which cost at least 1,000 yuan a month in the country, Yan said.

Nursing homes, both government and privately owned, are business oriented and open to those who can afford to pay.

"They are providing quality services to the already well-off seniors while not helping the poor and needy," said Wang Zhenyao, director of the social welfare and charity promotion department in the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

"It's right to have them both," he said.

State-owned nursing homes, largely subsidized by the government, should be public goods and obliged to help the poor with basic care and support, Yan said.

In developed countries like the United States, 5 percent of seniors live in nursing homes.

Currently in China, with all beds in such facilities taken, it is just 1 percent. A lack of effective management and supervision has also been noted in nursing homes in China, Yan said.

In April, a private nursing home in Changchun, capital of Jilin province, was found abusing their residents, reports said.

Investigations showed the nursing home was not registered with the government.

In fact, due to legal loopholes, two-thirds of the nation's nursing homes are operating without registration, Yan said.

"Without registration there is no supervision at all," he said.

Even registered ones are usually short staffed and in great need of professional workers who can provide help for disabled seniors, he said.

By the end of 2008, the country had 30,000 of such certified workers, while at least 10 million of them are reportedly needed.