BEIJING - China had 7.45 million elderly-care facility beds in 2017, compared to just 2.13 million in 2007, according to a recent report issued by Peking Union Medical College and Chinese Aging Well Association.In 2017, there were over 150,000 facilities providing elderly care services in China, including nursing homes, welfare houses and homes for elderly veterans, said the report published on Jan 26.For thousand elderly people there were 31.60 nursing home beds in 2016, an increase of 19.55 on the figure in 2006.Yet the country saw a huge gap between its aging population and the number of the beds, as about 111,300 out of over 140,000 elderly care providers in China offered no accommodation as of the end of 2016.China had 240 million people aged 60 and above in 2017, accounting for 17.3 percent of its population.Nearly 1.59 million beds in China's eldercare facilities were still vacant by the end of 2016, the report said.A 2016 survey showed that only 4 percent of China's elderly people would like to turn to elderly care facilities, partly due to Chinese people's preference for home-based elderly care and insufficient medical and care services in many facilities.The report also noted a shortage in qualified personnel, saying that only 300,000 people had qualifications in elderly care in China by the end of 2017, far from the goal of having 6 million eldercare nurses by 2020 set in an official plan in 2011. custom bar braceletcustom sports braceletscustom logo wristbandsde securite pour personne ageeembossed wristbandscolorfilled wristbandsembossed printed wristbandsdual layer wristbands
A file photo shows air polllution in Beijing. [Photo/VCG] Environmental authorities across China have inspected more than 1,100 companies as part of a campaign to halt the illegal production and use of ozone-depleting substances, or ODS. Several companies were found to have materials that could contain CFC-11, a banned refrigerant, according to Liu Youbin, spokesman for the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. All suspect materials and products were sealed and taken away for further testing, he said. The ministry will organize more inspections of key areas and enterprises based on the work of local environmental authorities to trace the source of illegal ODS. It will resolutely crack down on manufacture and sale of ODS, he said in Beijing on Friday. China launched the national campaign in July after international media reports raised concerns that some companies may still be producing and using CFC-11, which the country banned in 2010. CFC-11 damages the ozone layer, which shields the Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation. Even though it has been banned, levels in the atmosphere are significantly higher than expected, according to research published in May by the Nature scientific journal. Scientists concluded that new, illegal production and use of CFC-11 is occurring in East Asia. Some media then reported that Chinese companies were using the banned substance. Since China joined the Montreal Protocol in 1991, the country's reduction of ODS has accounted for about half the total reduction by developing countries, Liu said at an earlier news conference. China always earnestly fulfills its obligations to international environmental conventions, he said. It's illegal in China to produce or use substances controlled by the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. These activities have always been a key target for China's supervision and law enforcement work.
