"Many people apply to live in our nursing center, but we don't have enough beds," said an employee of Shanghai No 3 Social Welfare Home who did not want to be identified.
Shanghai has 625 nursing homes with a total of 97,000 beds, which is equal to about 3 percent of the city's aged population. The situation is similar in Beijing, which has 82,000 beds.
According to an August report by the China Philanthropy Research Institute, affiliated with Beijing Normal University, China has only 300,000 caregivers, and most of them are unqualified.
The report estimated that about 11 million caregivers are needed to care for 33 million elderly with various disabilities.
"Governments should work out policies to guarantee adequate care for the elderly, which is an essential part of stable development," said Lu Hanlong, a professor at Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Sociology.
"A complete pension and social welfare system for the elderly should be established. With this, the elderly will not worry about their basic needs after retiring," he said.
Heavy snowstorm wreaks havoc in NE China
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