Beijing seniors must wait 'lifetime' for nursing-home beds  

北京地区养老院调查：预定一个床位需等166年

A photo taken on September 4, 2013 shows seniors of a nursing home in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province. [Photo: China News Service/ Hu Xuewei]

(ECNS) -- Senior applying for one of Beijing's most popular nursing homes must wait more than 100 years for a bed, according to the Securities Daily newspaper.

Reporters on Tuesday posed as applicants to the Beijing No.1 Social Welfare House in Chaoyang district, one of five city-funded nursing homes. They were told that the nursing home can accommodate 1,100 seniors, but that there are already more than 10,000 applicants waiting for beds.

A staff member said 50 to 60 beds are offered to applicants annually, meaning that anyone applying now would have to wait at least 166 years to get in.

The nursing home charges between 3,000 yuan (US$490) and 4,000 yuan a month, but paying more won't ensure a bed, the staffer said.

Another city-funded nursing home told reporters that at most 100 beds are offered to 5,000 applicants. A new applicant must wait at least 50 years.

It is not easy to get into private nursing homes either, the reporters found.

In an effort to explore elder care solutions for China's rapidly aging society, the State Council, China's Cabinet, vowed earlier this month to complete a social care network for people over age 60 by 2020, when the age group is expected to reach 243 million. This group's population had already reached 194 million by the end of 2012, giving China the largest senior population on Earth.