China’s elderly care sector introduces smart gadgets to fill staffing gaps

China’s elderly care industry hopes that with internet-connected sleep monitors, robotic arms and calorie-counting cafeteria plates, automation will provide a solution to the problem of an aging population and a shrinking workforce.

This week, hundreds of retirees visited a crowded trade fair in Shanghai, where crowded booths advertised everything from luxury retirement homes to physiotherapy robots.

China’s population is falling from 2022 after more than 60 years of uninterrupted growth, raising fears of a future labor crisis and mounting pressure on the health care system as millions of citizens enter old age.

Instead of relying on humans – traditionally children – to provide care, many exhibitors at the fair showcased technological attempts to solve the demographic problem.

Yu, a 64-year-old guest, was in the crowd watching the company demonstrate its automated stair-climbing machines along with devices designed to lift people from beds to wheelchairs.

He told AFP he was impressed.

“Nowadays, there are fewer and fewer young people and more and more elderly people, so these smart products can provide better services to the elderly,” he said.

Yu said he had already purchased smart wheelchairs and beds for elderly family members, including a 90-year-old relative he was caring for.

Elsewhere, an array of smart watches, motion sensors and temperature monitors at the booth of Shenzhen-based technology company Innopro provided families with constant surveillance of the elderly.

Focusing on busy workers or people living away from loved ones, the company also counts nursing homes and local governments among its clients.

“Institutions hope to save on labor costs because they usually have to conduct inspections every evening,” employee Jin Guohui told AFP.

“This device can cut down on their workload,” Jin said, showing off a small white box equipped with a SIM card that monitors sleep patterns and vital signs.

– “Solving It” –

For customers of Eihoo Health Management, the operator of cafes for seniors, the most important thing is dinner plates: the plates contain chips identifying the food served.

The cash register at the checkout reads the chips and provides an instant nutritional report, including calorie counts and macronutrient breakdown, reducing the burden on service staff and healthcare workers.

Regular guests can set up payment cards that track their weight, eating habits and health.

At another booth, students from Shanghai Jiao Tong University tinkered with the code of a robot designed to help older people with limited mobility perform everyday tasks such as eating and turning doorknobs.

The move towards advanced technological solutions is a stark contrast to the traditional Chinese ideal of aging at home, under the care of family members.

Shi Wenjun, a 73-year-old visitor, said there are “definite differences” among older Chinese today compared with previous generations.

“We are all parents of only children… our children are almost 50 years old, they have their own jobs and families, so when we are old, we will choose government-provided elder care, group elder care,” she told AFP.

“If older people can use smart technology, they will not disturb others,” Shi said.

Shi, a volunteer who organizes activities for other seniors in her area, said she has learned about many new technologies, including smartphones.

“But with a lot of things, we’re still learning and figuring things out,” she said.