Hong Kong lawmakers sceptical about checks on mainland care homes for city’s elderly
Mainland will largely regulate facilities run by operators across the border, which are now eligible for scheme targeting elderly Hongkongers
Welfare authorities addressed a Legislative Council meeting on Monday to assure lawmakers over how involved the city would be in supervising homes run by mainland operators, which were now eligible to join a scheme targeting elderly Hongkongers.
But officials acknowledged they would have to rely on mainland authorities to hold operators across the border legally accountable in disputes.
Some legislators, including social welfare lawmaker Tik Chi-yuen, were unconvinced. He asked how authorities could ensure the quality of care homes across the border in the long run.
“Everything looked quite in place when we visited those facilities earlier, and the manpower was sufficient, but our elderly residents are the ones spending the rest of their lives there,” he said.
Hong Kong launched a subsidy scheme in 2014 to help the city’s elderly residents stay at 11 care homes in Guangdong province. The move was designed to ease the strain on the limited supply of local facilities amid a rapidly ageing population.