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Authorities announced the opening of the Jiading No 1 Social Welfare Institute at its launching ceremony on Nov 5. [Photo/jiading.gov.cn] |
Authorities in the Jiading district of Shanghai announced at a launching ceremony on Nov 5 that the district's No 1 social welfare institute has begun trial operations, local media reported.
The institute's construction started in July 2011 and will be done in two stages. The first-stage, covering a floor area of 25,000 square meters, has now been completed. It consists of three main buildings housing living quarters, a medical care sector, an office area, and a service area. It has a bed capacity of 498.
Construction is about to begin on the six-story second-stage project, which will have a floor area of nearly 10,000 square meters and a bed capacity of 280.
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Gao Yun, head of Jiading, speaks at the launching ceremony of the Jiading No 1 Social Welfare Institute on Nov 5. [Photo/jiading.gov.cn] |
Gao Yun, head of the district, said that the institute is in line with the local government's focus on the elderly and will help alleviate problems arising from Jiading's aging population. Statistics show that local residents aged 60 and above will exceed 180,000 at the end of 2015, and will account for over 30 percent of the district's total registered population. Experts predict that by 2020 the district's population over that age will exceed 200,000.
Gao expected that local authorities will do more to provide seniors with better care. He added that Jiading has made a plan for establishing better elderly support facilities by which the district's total bed capacity will rise to 8,500 by the end of 2020, and to 10,500 by the end of 2030.