Hangzhou eyes to technologize its elderly care sector

An undated photo shows an elderly woman dining at a nursing home in Hangzhou. [Photo by Sun Yidou for China Daily]

Hangzhou, an emerging technological hub in Zhejiang province, will ramp up efforts to promote the use of advanced technologies in the elderly care industry, with the city being recently listed as the National Model Base of Smart and Healthy Elderly Care, local media reported on Jan 30.

As one of the five pilot cities for the construction of smart cities in the country, tech-savvy Hangzhou rolled out intelligent elderly care projects as early as 2013, when the city introduced modern technologies in home-based care.

Over the years, the city has, by making the best use of its advantages, continuously sought innovations in service policies for elders, providing over 900,000 signed aged with services including health management, chronic disease prevention, patient referrals, and rehabilitation treatment.

In the future, Hangzhou has aims to technologize the elderly care sector, with the ultimate goal of providing better elderly care, by leveraging its advantages and building a data center by partnering up with Alibaba, Ant Financial and other information companies.

Upon its establishment, information related to the services of elders will be gathered for the purposes of nursing services and home care management.

Further efforts will also be made in the development of a batch of health and elderly care services with a focus on the combination of medical treatment, elderly care, health management and nursing.