No takers for Shanghai's 100,000 empty nursing home beds

Shanghai has 105,000 vacant beds, yet more than a third are in care centers on the city's outskirts, according to the city's civil affairs bureau.
Shen Guoming, a member of the Standing Committee of Shanghai People's Congress, said that many elderly people are unwilling to stay in these areas due to the inconvenient locations and inadequate support facilities, such as medical clinics.
Shen, who is also vice-chairperson of the Shanghai Social Sciences Association, made the comments during a seminar on draft regulations for the service and management of nursing homes.

Aged care home shortage shows need for insurance plan: adviser

Shenzhen has only 4894 aged care places its 862,000 elderly population

A political advisor in Shenzhen in Guangdong province, has suggested the government establish an insurance plan to pay for aged care.
Xu Long , a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Shenzhen committee, said in a proposal that there are 862,000 people over 60 living in Shenzhen, but the 30 aged care homes in the city can only accommodate 4,894 people.
Despite the lack of beds for the elderly, many old people opt to spend long periods in hospital, receiving care at the cost of medical insurance, because the current medical insurance does not cover daily care for the aged.
This has led to immense growth in the city’s medical insurance expenditure, he said at the fourth conference of the fifth session of CPPCC Shenzhen Committee, which is being held from Sunday to Wednesday.
Xu, who is also deputy director of a hospital in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, proposed that Shenzhen should establish a long-term elderly care insurance system.
Individuals, the government and the enterprises should pay for the insurance premium together, he said.
Eventually, the insurance will help lift some of the financial burden from both the government and families, he said.
Source: China Daily

Dementia drugs shown to be effective in Chinese clinical trial

Donepezil and galantamine improved cognitive function

 by Michael Woodhead
Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors such as galantine and donepezil are effective in improving cognitive function in Chinese patients, a new study has shown.
The drugs are already considered standard of care for Alzheimer’s disease in western countries. Galantamine is an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor that may also act via allosteric modulation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Therefore, it may provide benefits compared with other acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. Therefore, researchers at the Department of Neurology of Peking Union Medical College Hospital compared galantamine with donepezil in a double-blind trial involving 233 patients at nine hospitals in China.
The patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease were treated with either galantamine or donepezil for 16 weeks.
 Alzheimer’s cognitive symptoms  scores improved significantly from baseline in both groups of patients, with a significant difference in favour of galantamine in the “language”  area. Significantly more galantamine-treated patients responded to treatment and showed better cognitive scores. Both treatments were well tolerated, although fewer galantamine-treated patients experienced gastrointestinal adverse events compared with donepezil (30% versus 48%).
The researchers conclude that cognitive function improved significantly in subjects with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease treated with galantamine or donepezil, and both treatments were generally well tolerated. Significant benefits for galantamine over donepezil were observed for language and response to treatment."
Source:  Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment