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Memory clinics, paid-for medicines help to support dementia patients

Source:China Daily USA

Wang Xiaodong

Updated: 2015-07-14

A shortage of nursing homes for dementia patients in Beijing will only worsen as the city's population rapidly ages over the next few years, experts said.

The number of people in the capital suffering from dementia, which affects thinking and memory, is estimated at between 150,000 and 200,000, or about 7.8 percent of the total population age 60 or older, according to Gao Xiaojun, an official from the Beijing Commission of Health and Family Planning.

A number of factors can cause dementia, including strokes, head injuries, prolonged depression and diseases such as Alzheimer's, but aging is a major reason. "The incidence of suffering dementia doubles with every five more years for people above 60 years old," Gao said.

Health authorities in Beijing have taken a series of steps in recent years to prevent and control dementia, such as establishing memory clinics in more public hospitals and promoting dementia evaluation techniques in communities, Gao said.

Medicines for dementia have also been covered by the social security system to ease the financial burden on patients, Gao said.

Zhang Shouzi, a psychiatric doctor at Beijing Geriatric Hospital, which specializes in the treatment of diseases in elders, said the number of patients seeking hospital treatment for dementia has been increasing over the past few years, and the number is expected to rise as society ages.

The number of people age 60 and over living in Beijing is expected to rise by more than 100,000 each year until 2020, according to a report released last year by Beijing's authority for the elderly population.

Up to 40 percent of people reaching 85 years old may develop dementia, Zhang said.

"There is no cure for dementia, and almost all dementia patients eventually lose the ability to live on their own," he said.

"It takes many years for dementia to develop, and patients suffering the disease can become a heavy burden on their families."

Outpatient care is very important, but there is a severe shortage of nursing homes for such patients in Beijing, Zhang said.

"Many dementia patients cannot find a place to go for care after they are discharged from the hospital," he said. "Many nursing homes refuse to accept such patients, for fear of their mental state."

There are already several high-end nursing homes in Beijing that have been specially built to care for dementia patients, but few for people of ordinary means. Beijing Geriatric Hospital is struggling to meet the increasing need for beds.

"Some patients stay in the hospital for months," Zhang said. "We hope there are outlets such as nursing homes, so they continue to get enough care after they leave the hospital."

Ma Yanming, an official with the Beijing Commission of Health and Family Planning, said many hospitals in Beijing specializing in treating dementia have met similar difficulties.

"It is a chronic disease, and such patients usually stay in hospitals for much longer than other patients," he said.

Additionally, many people lack awareness and knowledge of dementia, and may resist sending their ailing family members to the hospital, thus missing early diagnosis and treatment.

"Early diagnosis is very important in treating the disease, but few patients going to the hospital are at early stages," Zhang said.

"The whole society should show more respect and provide more care to dementia patients so they are better taken care of."

wangxiaodong@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA?07/14/2015 page5)