President-elect Tsai Ing-wen says long-term care is a responsibility and challenge for all of Taiwan. She was speaking on Monday at the tenth anniversary of Taipei Veterans General Hospital’s geriatrics center.
Tsai said Taiwan will become a hyper-aging society by 2025, with more than 20% of the population over 65 years old. She said an ageing society presents a serious challenge for the government.
“Facing the challenges of an ageing society, there are a lot of pressing needs, and there is so much that needs to be done. We have our work cut out for us. During the election, we made long-term care one of our most important policies for the future," said Tsai, "We aim to build a community-based, accessible, and inexpensive long-term care system so that the elderly can spend their later years comfortably in their own, familiar community.”
Tsai says the DPP has planned long term care policies that focus on health deterioration and incapacitation. She says she has also proposed setting up an elderly health research center.
Tsai says that developing the nation’s long-term care sector will create many new job opportunities.