Elderly care workers needed in Gansu

Gansu, one of China’s fastest-aging provinces, is facing an imbalance between the supply of and demand for elderly care.

By the end of 2015, the elderly population (aged 60 and above) in Gansu province exceeded 3.9 million, 15 percent of all Gansu residents. The shortage of nursing assistants has restricted the development of the Gansu pension industry.

Tang Tinglan, a 52-year-old nursing assistant from Lanzhou, has cared for approximately 100 elderly in the last 10 years.

According to Tang, she struggled to get used to the nursing work at the beginning and planned to give up. Until one day, an elderly lady asked her to buy a hat. “She asked me to buy her a hat and then she told everyone that her daughter was buying the hat,” said Tang. After that, Tang realized that caring for the elderly was more important than she first thought.

At Lanzhou’s Yiruikang Elderly Nursing Home, approximately 400 elderly are cared for by just 30 nursing assistants. According to a senior staff member form the nursing home, all the assistants need to work continuously for 24 hours and then rest for another 24 hours. “Half of the nursing assistants here are 50 years old or above and our youngest is a 40-year-old,” said the staff member.

Jin Chongqing, who has been director of Lanzhou Qingnuan Xiyang Nursing House for 17 years, said she thinks that the biggest problem of running a nursing home is the shortage of nursing assistants. “It’s very difficult to find good nursing assistants, a lot of young people just don’t want to work as one,” said Jin.

In facing the challenges, the Gansu government has started taking actions to improve the old age pension system and to help increase salaries for nursing assistants to encourage more people to take up the profession.

During the 12th Five Year Plan (2011- 2015), Gansu increased investment in constructing a better old age pension system.

Wang Fude, deputy director of Gansu Provincial Government, attended the 2016 West China Old Age Pension Summit on Oct 10 and said, “We have increased efforts and raised a fund of 206 million yuan ($30.68 million) to promote the old age pension system.”

Edited by Owen Fishwick