Pilot project to build a care facility for lonely elderly people

The Ministry of Construction has just submitted a document to the Prime Minister requesting approval of the “Pilot Project to build a care facility for lonely elderly people with no one to rely on”. There are 10 provinces proposed to pilot this new model.

100 thousand homeless elderly people

Vietnam is currently one of the fastest aging countries in Asia. In 2011, the country had about 8.7 million elderly people, accounting for 9.8% of the population. Of these, the number of elderly people receiving monthly social insurance benefits was about 1.4 million (accounting for 17% of the total number of elderly people).

Poverty reduction programs and housing support have also significantly reduced the proportion of elderly people living in temporary housing. However, it is difficult for lonely elderly people to benefit from policies because housing support programs must be implemented with contributions from those in need.

It is estimated that the whole country currently has about 100,000 homeless elderly people (illustrative photo)

According to the report of the Ministry of Construction, the number of lonely elderly people without support nationwide is about 100,000 people (accounting for about 1.15% of the total number of elderly people), but the number of people admitted to live in social protection facilities has only reached about 3,500 people (accounting for 6.4%).

According to statistics, there are currently about 432 social protection facilities nationwide, but only about 180 facilities provide care for the elderly (including 79 public facilities). Most of the social protection facilities providing care for the elderly are currently taking care of the disabled, orphans, and abandoned children; there are only about 15 care facilities specifically for the elderly (accounting for 8.3% of the total number of social protection facilities providing care for the elderly).

Non-public social protection facilities are mainly established by local religious and belief organizations. The number of private facilities established to receive and care for the elderly currently accounts for a low percentage (about 3.5% of facilities providing care for the elderly).

According to the assessment of Minister of Construction Trinh Dinh Dung, the elderly care network system in our country is currently lacking in quantity, limited in quality, and not capable of meeting the needs. Current care facilities only take care of aspects of life; cultural and spiritual activities and most importantly, health care for the elderly are almost non-existent.

Proposal for 10 provinces to pilot care facilities

Faced with the above situation, the Ministry of Construction has submitted to the Prime Minister a proposal for approval of the “Pilot Project on Building Care Facilities for Lonely and Unsheltered Elderly People”. Accordingly, three models of care for lonely and unsheltered elderly people have been proposed.

One is a model of public elderly care facilities for lonely elderly people with no one to rely on, who are policy beneficiaries, have difficult economic circumstances, and are unable to care for themselves, with the state budget ensuring all operating costs.

The second is a non-public elderly care facility model for lonely elderly people with no one to rely on, who have economic conditions and need care, help in daily life and medical examination and treatment, and voluntarily contribute fees to receive regular care services.

This type of facility also welcomes lonely elderly people with no support, who are policy beneficiaries, have difficult economic circumstances, and are unable to care for themselves. The state or organizations and individuals take care of them and pay for the care services. This model is invested in and built by organizations and individuals and enjoys preferential policies on land, capital, and taxes...

And the third is the model of community-based elderly care homes. Accordingly, lonely elderly people with no place to rely on voluntarily come together to live and work together, or are mobilized by organizations and individuals to provide centralized care and nurturing associated with the community.

This model is established and operates in the form of self-management with the management and support of the State. The State has a policy of financial support, and at the same time mobilizes organizations and individuals to contribute and support funds to build new, repair and renovate houses, construction items serving daily life (if required) and operate group care homes in the community.

In the immediate future, the Ministry of Construction plans to propose piloting the construction of care facilities in localities representing each region, with a large number of lonely elderly people without support and in need of care. These are: Cao Bang, Tuyen Quang, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Quang Tri, Quang Nam, Lam Dong, Kon Tum, Tra Vinh, Dong Thap (each province selects 01 facility with a care scale of about 50 people selected by the locality).

The total investment is about 12 billion VND/facility, taken from the budget and funds of other organizations and individuals. Of which, the investment capital for construction and installation of project items is about 10 billion VND, the remaining 2 billion is for investment in working equipment, accommodation, medical examination and treatment areas and other service equipment. The plan is to put these facilities into use before the third quarter of 2015, from which experience will be drawn to replicate the model.

According to Dan Tri