Elderly nursing home bed crisis in Beijing

Beijing's nursing home crisis has been highlighted in a report by Beijing News Monday revealing the capital's aging population face years of waiting for a bed.

Zhang Yinsheng, a 90-year-old resident in Beijing, has been refused by several public nursing homes with the same reason cited each time as "no beds available".

Zhao Fen, the paper reports, registered in two public welfare houses in Beijing four years ago, but has been told to continue waiting as no beds are available.

Beijing had 401 nursing homes by the end of 2011 including 215 public ones and 186 private ones, which means 2.9 beds for every 100 seniors, according to statistics of Beijing Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau.

The No 1 Welfare House told Beijing News on March 20 they have 1,100 beds available and more than 7,000 waiting, warning: "One has to wait for at least 10 years if he or she applies now."

Other public welfare houses are also full and each has several hundreds waiting. Some refuse to receive old people who can't take care of themselves.

"Those who can take care of themselves are still waiting, why do we look for troubles?" said a staff member in a public welfare house.

By 2015, there will be 3.2 million people over 60 years old registered in Beijing, some 23 percent of the city's household registered population. There will be 540,000 over 80 years old, accounting for 4 percent of the total population.

Beijing plans to build 100 welfare service centers with 10,000 beds in 2012, according to Beijing Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau.

There will be 120,000 beds for old people by 2015, meeting the needs of just 4 percent of the total elderly population.