CHINA: Life care center set up to help the dying in Shanghai area

SHANGHAI (Shanghai Daily), April 3, 2008: THE China Life Care Association's Life Care Research Center was established in Shanghai yesterday, the nation's only center focusing on the study of life care, social supports, ethics and policies. The center was set up at Zhabei District's Linfen Neighborhood Health Center, which was the first in the city to launch hospice services to dying people 13 years ago. To date about 1,000 elderly people have passed away in the Linfen center. Currently, there are 53 elderly care facilities in the city, providing terminal care. "There were 153 million people over 60 years old in the nation in 2007 and the figure is expected to reach 400 million by the middle of the 21st century," said Wang Guangrong, chief of the life care research center. "Life care is not only a requirement for social development and caring for an increasing number of elderly people but the betterment of the health care system. "Both research and practice for the quality of terminal caring are in their early stages in China," said Zhang Li from the Ministry of Health's disease control bureau. By Cai Wenjun Copyright © 2001-2007 Shanghai Daily Publishing House