National Assembly delegates offer advice to develop the "silver-haired economy"

(Dan Tri) - Stating the fact that developing nursing homes is very difficult, delegate Tran Thi Hien proposed adding preferential regulations on tax and land for investment and development of elderly care facilities.

This content was raised by National Assembly delegate Tran Thi Hien ( Ninh Binh ) during the discussion session in the National Assembly hall on the afternoon of November 10, when giving comments on the draft Population Law.

According to her, this is the first draft law to officially institutionalize the viewpoint of "shifting the focus of population policy from family planning to population and development".

Concerned about integrating population factors into socio -economic development strategies and plans, delegate Hien was concerned because the draft law stated that development policies only included three factors: population size, structure and distribution, without the factor of population aging, while this is a very necessary, even urgent, issue for current population work.

National Assembly Delegate Tran Thi Hien (Photo: Hong Phong).

According to the recommendations of the United Nations Population Fund, one of the priority measures to be able to adapt and take advantage of opportunities from population aging is to ensure that aging issues and the needs of the elderly are taken into account in national development policies.

The female delegate from Ninh Binh province cited that in countries like Japan, Korea, and China today, the "silver-hair economy" and services and goods for the elderly are developing very strongly.

From that reality, she proposed adding the element of "population aging" to Clause 2, Article 4 of the draft Law.

Further supporting this proposal, the female delegate cited the story of Japan, which is having to deal with its super-aging population by converting schools with no students into nursing homes.

Meanwhile, Vietnam is considering a policy of prioritizing state agency headquarters after the arrangement for the development of educational and medical facilities.

Delegate Tran Thi Hien added that currently, the elderly population increases by an average of more than 4% per year, with an additional 600,000 elderly people each year in the 2019-2021 period, and the aging index increasing from 35.5 in 2009 to 53.1 in 2021.

“This is the time we need to think ahead and take the lead in establishing priority policies to promote the development of nursing homes and facilities providing elderly care services, increase the availability of services for the elderly in the community, and create a foundation for a “silver-haired economy” in Vietnam,” the female delegate emphasized.

According to her, General Secretary To Lam once made a very practical and humane suggestion about the model of residential care for the elderly in the community, and this is also a very effective and popular method in Japan.

National Assembly delegates attend the discussion session on the afternoon of November 10 (Photo: Hong Phong).

Although this policy is already in the law, in reality, Ninh Binh province delegates assessed that the socialization and development of nursing homes and elderly care facilities is very difficult, the number is very small; mainly high-cost services for people who can afford to pay several tens of millions/month.

The reason, according to Ms. Hien, is basically due to difficulties in accessing land, premises and specialized human resources.

Therefore, the female delegate proposed to revise, supplement, and specify Article 17 on support for elderly care in the direction of more specific regulations on incentive policies, priorities on land access, tax incentives for investment activities, development of elderly care facilities and forms of elderly care in the community.

At the same time, she suggested that there should be policies to encourage and create favorable conditions for Vietnamese workers to work abroad in the fields of nursing and elderly care. When their contracts abroad expire, they can easily develop their knowledge, skills, and professional experience to continue developing their careers in Vietnam.

“This is a proactive and necessary step to increase the availability of infrastructure and human resources to practically serve Vietnam's aging future,” said a female delegate from Ninh Binh province.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/thoi-su/dai-bieu-quoc-hoi-hien-ke-de-phat-trien-nen-kinh-te-toc-bac-20251110153420582.htm