Care to be subsidized for hard-up elderly

BEIJING - The country will set up a system to subsidize the provision of elderly care to support disadvantaged senior citizens, which is considered an important part of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Civil Affairs said on Sunday.

Dou Yupei, vice-minister of civil affairs, told a national meeting in Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu province, that the central government will give financial aid to disadvantaged, low-income senior citizens to help pay for nursing homes or care in the community.

China will also improve the government's support system for the elderly, who have been surviving on local government subsidies, to guarantee their basic living conditions, which are to be on par with those of the average local resident.