China releases document on advancing elderly care system

BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese authorities Sunday released a set of guidelines for facilitating the building of the basic elderly care system.

The document, released jointly by the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council General Office, emphasized that facilitating the building of this system bears great importance in China's efforts to pursue a proactive national strategy in response to population aging and ensure equitable access to public services.

According to the guidelines, basic elderly care services consist of material assistance, nursing, and caregiving services, among others. They are provided directly by the government or by parties supported by the government.

The guidelines noted that the system should follow the principles of meeting essential needs and be universally accessible. In the meantime, the system should also allow families with financial difficulties to be supported in elderly care and ensure all institutional resources regarding elderly care are optimized and integrated.

The guidelines listed five key aspects where more work should be done. They include forming and implementing a list of elderly care services, establishing an active response mechanism for providing accurate services, enhancing the mechanism that ensures sound elderly care services, improving service capacity, and making such services more accessible.