The Taipei City Government on Tuesday announced that it will add NT$4.5 billion (US$141.8 million) to the budget for policies regarding the welfare of elderly people.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) unveiled what his administration termed the “stone soup” project — whose name he said was derived from a folk tale — that would allow the private sector to contribute to welfare policies for the elderly by providing services, benefiting the municipal government, private companies and the public.
The number of residents aged 65 or above is estimated to reach one-fifth of Taipei’s population in five years, Ko told a news conference.
He said that unlike the US, where elderly people are put in remote nursing homes, Asian nations tend to favor localized and community-based long-term care systems, on which their policies are usually centered.
“I have been there [the US] and seen it myself. If I were an old man, I would not want to be sent there [nursing homes], because old people are everywhere you look,” Ko said.
Ko said the cancelation of NT$1,500 Double Ninth Day monetary gifts for elderly city residents from high-income families will save NT$700 million each year, which would go toward improving the welfare of the elderly in general.
Plans include increasing public areas dedicated to elderly people and providing them with home nursing, diagnosis and rehabilitation services, he said.
“Apart from asking old people to visit certain facilities, we will also send people to help them at their homes,” Ko said, adding that he is averse to “one-off” spending.
Ko said that there will be more than 300 facilities where elderly people can engage in activities, of which the city plans to choose 190 where they can have meals together and make new friends.
The city plans to offer daycare services for senior citizens at 20 of these facilities, he said.
Taipei Department of Social Welfare will allocate NT$2.4 billion for the establishment of 15 daycare centers and NT$450 million for community care centers, as well as facilities where elderly people can spend time and dine together, Department Commissioner Hsu Li-ming (許立民) said.
Hsu said the department plans to distribute NT$150 million on integrated healthcare services aimed at hiring home doctors, nurses and pharmacists and NT$760 in subsidies for long-term care facilities to meet the increasing demand for facilities to take care of elderly people with disabilities.
The department is working on a plan to subsidize senior residents NT$16 per taxi ride for trips that cost less than NT$100 and NT$32 for those that cost more than NT$200 to encourage them to adopt a more active lifestyle, Hsu said.
In addition, the city plans to exempt the elderly from purchasing tickets to visit the Taipei Zoo, Taipei Astronomical Museum and district sports centers on Double Ninth Day, he said.
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