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Beijing hospital fire: private facility offered long-term care for the elderly
- Families say they admitted their relatives for the residential and medical care: reports
- ‘Most of the patients on some floors’ were dependent older people
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A private Beijing hospital where more than two dozen people were killed in a blaze on Tuesday turned to offering long-term care for the elderly as it struggled to stay in business during the Covid pandemic, according to Chinese media reports.
Among the 29 people killed in the fire at Changfeng Hospital in the capital’s southwest, 21 were aged over 60 and most of the patients on a number of floors were dependent older people, the Beijing News quoted relatives as saying.
As China’s population rapidly ages and demand for elderly care surges, authorities have encouraged facilities to offer a combination of medical and residential services for the elderly.
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But in the aftermath of the deadly blaze, internet users vented fury at how a fire could erupt at a place caring for people who could not escape to safety by themselves.
02:08
12 arrested over Beijing hospital fire that killed dozens of patients
12 arrested over Beijing hospital fire that killed dozens of patients
The fire broke out on the fifth floor of the hospital’s east wing in Fengtai district and spread to the eighth floor on Tuesday afternoon.
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