Quantify specific incentive policies to encourage the construction of elderly care facilities

(Chinhphu.vn) - On the morning of October 17, at the Government headquarters, the Vietnam National Committee on Aging held a meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long, Chairman of the Committee, to evaluate the results of the implementation of work for the elderly in the first 9 months of 2025; identify shortcomings and limitations, thereby proposing key tasks and solutions to implement work for the elderly in the coming time.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long, Chairman of the Vietnam National Committee on Ageing, chaired the meeting - Photo: VGP/Duc Tuan

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Lien Huong said that in recent times, care for the elderly has been comprehensively implemented in many fields.

Our country has entered the population aging stage.

More than 14.1 million people have health insurance cards, 61 million health insurance treatment visits, costing more than VND 58,000 billion; 225,000 elderly people continue to participate in voluntary social insurance, along with millions of people receiving social benefits and social pensions.

80% of the elderly have their health records managed; the whole country has over 100 hospitals with geriatric departments, tens of thousands of hospital beds and medical staff, and tens of thousands of volunteers.

Regarding spiritual life, the elderly are exempted from tickets to visit, watch movies, participate in cultural and sports movements, with nearly 80,000 cultural clubs attracting more than 3 million members, over 9,000 intergenerational self-help clubs with more than 330,000 members.

Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan speaks at the meeting - Photo: VGP/Duc Tuan

"The policy of caring for the elderly has covered everything from social security, healthcare, culture, sports, transportation, law to spiritual life, contributing to improving the quality of life and promoting the role of the elderly," said Deputy Minister Nguyen Thi Lien Huong.

However, the leader of the Ministry of Health said that our country has entered the population aging stage, from 9.5 million elderly people in 2014 to 16.5 million in 2025 and is forecast to become a country with an aging population by 2036.

"Population aging poses many challenges in terms of healthcare, social security, labor and community services, while the lives of a segment of the elderly, especially in remote areas, remain difficult," said Deputy Minister Nguyen Thi Lien Huong.

Need to have a policy to develop "silver economy"

The representative of the Vietnam Association of the Elderly also said that Vietnam is in the process of rapid population aging, requiring us to proactively adapt to the new era.

Mr. Truong Xuan Cu - Vice President of the Vietnam Association of the Elderly said that the work for the elderly includes three pillars: protection, care and promotion.

Regarding care, we currently have about 500 care facilities with 12,000 people being cared for, which is a very modest number. Regarding development, the silver economy (or silver hair economy, this concept describes activities, products and services developed to meet the needs of the elderly) is being developed in many countries. In Japan, people aged 65 and over contribute 20% of GDP; in the US, people over 50 contribute 46% of GDP. Mr. Cu suggested that the Government should develop a project on developing the silver economy as well as promptly have policies and solutions to encourage the development of elderly care facilities.

Chairman of the Vietnam Association of the Elderly Nguyen Thanh Binh speaks - Photo: VGP/Duc Tuan

Representatives of the Association of the Elderly also said that they will organize an annual 'Silver Economy Forum' to promote the development of the silver economy in Vietnam.

At the meeting, delegates also discussed solutions to realize the General Secretary's direction on developing a nursing home model to care for the elderly; how each province and centrally-run city can have a geriatric hospital or a general hospital with a geriatric department.

Representative of the Ministry of Construction speaking - Photo: VGP/Duc Tuan

Delegates discussed solutions to promote socialization and attract private investment in elderly care services.

Great efforts in policy making for the elderly

Concluding the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long assessed that over the past time, agencies have actively prepared, consulted, reported and submitted to competent authorities many important policies and guidelines.

For example, Resolution 72 of the Politburo on a number of breakthrough solutions in the work of caring for and protecting people's health - which includes many very specific contents related to population and policies for the elderly.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long assessed that recently, agencies have actively prepared, advised, reported and submitted to competent authorities many important policies and guidelines - Photo: VGP/Duc Tuan

In addition, the Government has also issued Decree 176 guiding the implementation of the Law on Social Insurance and Decree 188 guiding the implementation of the Law on Health Insurance; at the same time, approved many major projects and strategies, such as the National Strategy on the Elderly, the Project on Developing Intergenerational Clubs, the Project on Green Transformation, Digital Transformation, etc.

These are remarkable results, demonstrating great efforts in institutionalizing the Party and State's policies for the elderly.

Spending nearly 6,400 billion VND on social benefits and pensions

Regarding the specific activities of the Association of the Elderly and relevant agencies, the Deputy Prime Minister said that the activities were organized quite comprehensively, enthusiastically and had good influence.

For example, the Association successfully organized the 30th Anniversary Celebration, the Month of Action for the Elderly, the "Bright Eyes for the Elderly" program, visiting activities, giving gifts, health check-ups, fundraising, etc. The total amount of social mobilization and fundraising in the 9 months of the Association reached about 20 billion VND, serving many practical programs.

Regarding the implementation of social security policies and regimes, concrete results have been achieved. In the first 9 months of the year, the state budget spent nearly 6,400 billion VND on social subsidies and social pensions.

Currently, there are about 2.8 million elderly people receiving pensions and social insurance benefits and nearly 70% of the elderly receive regular health check-ups...

These figures demonstrate the increasingly deep concern of the Party, State and the whole society for the elderly.

In addition to the achievements, there are still some limitations. The Deputy Prime Minister noted two issues. First, the care of the elderly in remote, rural areas still faces many difficulties. Many elderly people still face difficulties in accommodation, transportation, medicine and health care.

Second, investment resources for elderly care are still low, far behind developed countries.

Quantify specific incentive policies to encourage the construction of elderly care facilities

Regarding the tasks in the coming time, Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long suggested that it is necessary to strongly change policy thinking, focusing on policies to care for and promote the role of the elderly. Ministries, branches and localities need to promptly issue action plans to implement approved target programs and strategies.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long suggested that it is necessary to strongly change policy thinking, focusing on policies to care for and promote the role of the elderly - Photo: VGP/Duc Tuan

The Deputy Prime Minister said that there are two issues that arise when encouraging the private sector to build elderly care facilities: land and taxes. "Please consider how this policy can be quantified, and it can be stipulated in the draft resolution submitted to the National Assembly or relevant laws," the Deputy Prime Minister said. "Only then can we increase the number of elderly care facilities."

The Deputy Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Health to urgently review and strengthen the network of geriatric hospitals in provinces and cities, first of all, to have a project to evaluate this geriatric healthcare system, to be completed in the first quarter of 2026.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, there are currently many policies on the elderly, contained in different documents and not all policies can be implemented immediately once they are issued. Some laws must be amended and supplemented, and some require funding. The Deputy Prime Minister suggested that the Ministry of Health study and develop a project to systematize and comprehensively evaluate all policies on elderly care, "clearly identifying what needs to be done, how far it is being done, where it is located, and who is doing it", "because speaking in general terms is very difficult to implement".

The Deputy Prime Minister asked the Vietnam Association of the Elderly to coordinate with the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee to review and evaluate the Party's directives and resolutions on elderly work; and at the same time welcomed the Association to chair the conference on "silver economy".

The Ministry of Construction pays attention to integrating social housing policies for the elderly. The Ministry of Science and Technology presides over and coordinates with supporting agencies to create conditions for the elderly to participate in promoting digital transformation and entrepreneurship.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment is concerned with tax policy, and coordinates with the Association of the Elderly to organize the festival "Elderly people plant trees to remember Uncle Ho".

Press and media agencies should strengthen propaganda about the Party and State's viewpoints and policies, helping society understand correctly and change its thinking about elderly care.

Duc Tuan

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/luong-hoa-cu-the-cac-chinh-sach-uu-dai-khuyen-khich-xay-co-so-cham-soc-nguoi-cao-tuoi-102251017133232215.htm