Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday announced a 10-year program with a budget of NT$81.7 billion (US$2.5 billion) designed to take care of senior citizens who need round-the-clock nursing services.
The program is designed to take care of those over the age of 65, Aboriginals older than 50 and handicapped citizens above the age of 50, Su said during the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday.
"This program is a part of the `Big Warmth' plan and is a must-do because the average age of Taiwanese is increasing, which corresponds with our falling birth rate," he said.
PHOTO: CNA
The "Big Warmth," will be implemented over a three-year period, and is the first stage of the government's "Economic Development Vision 2015" plan. The total cost of the project was estimated at NT$1.17 trillion.
Su said 10 percent of the population were now aged 65 and over or about 2.29 million people.
More than 200,000 senior citizens require some kind of nursing services and by the year 2016, more than 13 percent of the population will be elderly, he said.
"We expect to have a total of 2.32 million senior citizens by the end of this year and 10 percent of them will need to be looked after in some way. What we are doing now is taking that burden away from the families of the elderly," Su said.
Biggest yet
The 10-year program is the biggest social security-related policy proposed so far by Su and his administration since he took office in January last year.
In addition to taking care of minority groups, Su said the program was expected to create more than 12,000 jobs over the next year.
"By the end of 2015, at least 83,000 job vacancies are expected to be created. This program not only helps take care of the handicapped and elderly but also helps the unemployment rate drop," he said.
Help for kids
In related news, Director of the Ministry of the Interior's Children's Bureau, Huang Pi-hsia (
The bureau currently provides social services to 19,000 "high-risk" children, she said.
In investigating possible child abuse cases, for example, social workers will no longer rely solely on home visits, Huang said, adding that children are often afraid to speak openly about their home life with family members nearby.
"More social workers will be dispatched to schools to speak privately with children who are possibly at risk," she said, adding that such visits would be coordinated with school officials and teachers, and would be conducted confidentially so that classmates and family are unaware of the interview.
The number of home and school visits by social workers would also be increased soon to more effectively detect abuse cases, Huang said.
Additional reporting by Max Hirsch
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