Senior care dilemma as cross-border option ends

Lost connections

A lack of connections with the mainland is also dissuading seniors from Hong Kong from heading north.

"Many Hong Kong residents came to the city from the mainland several decades ago, so they have close links with the mainland and are willing to return there when they retire," said Jackie Mok, head of Yee Hong Heights.

"However, those generations are gradually passing away. The new generations of seniors who were born and grew up in Hong Kong prefer to stay in the city rather than move to an unfamiliar place when they grow old."

Wendy Man, vice-chairman of the Clifford Group, which owns the Clifford Care Home for the elderly in Guangzhou, urged mainland nursing homes to raise their professional standards, in terms of care services, and work on positioning their operations.

The diminishing enthusiasm for cross-border elderly care among Hong Kong seniors could mean the city will face a heavier burden in dealing with its aging problem as the elderly population grows.

According to the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department, people age 65 or older accounted for 16 percent of the population in 2016. The figure is projected to reach 36 percent by about 2057.

Helene Fung Hoi-lam, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong who researches aging issues in the city, said her research suggests that some seniors are looking at low-cost housing in Taiwan or Southeast Asia when planning their retirement.

Noting the government's initiatives in the recent policy address, she said authorities have worked hard to make the senior care ladder easier to climb by providing community and household care.

Hong Kong is a society with low tax rates, which makes implementation of a fully fledged universal pension system untenable, Fung said.

Despite that reality, the policy address stated: "The government's policy direction should accord priority to the provision of home care and community care, supplemented by residential care."

Contact the writer at sally@chinadailyhk.com