China yet to exploit potential market for care facilities for its rapidly ageing population
Japanese firm Nichii Gakkan sees a chance to bring its specialised nursing facilities to some of China’s 230 million over-60s
Age is fast catching up with China. With 230 million people above the age of 60 – the highest in the world – it presents a huge opportunity for specialised nursing care.
Sensing an opportunity, Nichii Gakkan, the largest nursing care provider in Japan, plans to open its first senior care centre in Beijing this year. The company decided to take the plunge after closely observing a gap in high-quality nursing care for the past four years while offering home-based nursing care and training nurses. It eventually plans to open at least 15 more centres, including in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, in the next few years.
While most local operators have struggled to come up with a viable business model, the Japanese provider, which operates a profitable business back home, has posted two consecutive years of top-line growth in China.
Nichii Gakkan sends its Chinese staff to Japan for six months of intensive training to equip them with the skills required to assist seniors in using the toilet, eating, dressing, bathing and to supervise medication.
“What we see in China are big resort-style retirement communities,” said Takeshi Sakamoto, general manager of Nichii Gakkan for Beijing. “But there is a need for facilities offering specialised, long-term nursing care for seniors.”
He said his company would initially start operations within these retirement communities and would specialise in Alzheimer’s care and limit their services to small groups of up to 20.
