Monthly Archives: January 2010

Why long term care market in China will open up only after today’s real estate bubble pops

Written by Damjan Denoble. Posted on January 30, 2010. Filed under China, News Items. 4 Comments.
By 2020, 17% or 248 million of Chinese citizens will be over 60 years of age (For Samuel Green's excellent four part series on this subject, go here, here, here, and here). Any businessman who looks at this number will tell you that it represents a huge market opportunity. Of course there is a catch. You have to know when it's time to enter the market. Right now, is definitely NOT that time. But, there likely IS a right time.

Sinosplice sees hospitals in train Stations and vice versa

Written by Damjan Denoble. Posted on January 29, 2010. Filed under Asia, NOT-China, China. 1 Comment.
There is something to be said for the ultimate inefficiency of a system that funds all public services from a single budget and tries to do so equitably. For some reason, historically, health has been viewed by all revolutionary governments as something that needs to be taken care of only after the 'real' issues of statehood, like economy, political legitimacy, and military build up, are solved, or at least brought to acceptable equilibrium. That's why it is common to see crowded, unsanitary, and corrupt health systems in the middle of bustling world centers like Shanghai, Brazil, New York...etc. Eventually this mistake in policy catches up with you.

Photo essay on the Elderly in Rural China

Written by Damjan Denoble. Posted on January 29, 2010. Filed under China. 2 Comments.
Several of the pictures really give a sense of how much care is required for sick elderly in China's countryside. The pictures are not representative of the countryside as a whole, but our focused on some of the most extreme poverty. In this sense they mirror what one might see anywhere in the world, developed or not. I saw many similar scenes in Eastern North Carolina, where elderly women were living in homes and trailers without running toilets or piping.

The rural life and time of China’s elderly, Part IV: Limiting Catastrophe

Written by Samuel. Posted on January 28, 2010. Filed under China, News Items. 3 Comments.
The primary issue of migration is the near-crisis statistic regarding levels of eldercare needed from 2030. Throwing money at the problem will not solve it alone. A sophisticated private investment and rural development programme would result in a sustainable solution that could possibly avert disaster. Although it could be argued that it is too late and the Chinese government should focus on damage limitation.

The Rural Life and Times of China’s Aging Population, Part III: Institutional Problems

Written by Samuel. Posted on January 27, 2010. Filed under China, Public Health. 7 Comments.
Subtle, we know.
While one might simply point at the above discussed brain drain the real culprit might be the hukou system. The hukou system is a household registration system which, among other things, is used to calculate health insurance requirements and analyze the needs of the local population. Rural-urban migrants are not registered in the hukou system. Thus they are not included in urban health insurance schemes and are ignored when making resource allocation decisions. Health policy is based solely on the local registered population.