In 2011-2015, it is planned to establish paid nursing homes of enhanced comfort in Belarus.

On January 4, Minsk /Oksana Shikut - BELTA/. Small-capacity and enhanced comfort boarding houses, where services will be provided on a paid basis, are planned to be established in Belarus in 2011-2015. This was announced by Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection Valeryan Korol at a press conference today, as reported by a BELTA correspondent. The establishment of new types of stationary social service institutions in the country is envisaged by the Comprehensive Programme for the Development of Social Services for 2011-2015, which includes the sub-programme "Development of Stationary Social Service Institutions". Small-capacity and enhanced comfort boarding houses will be created through both new construction and the repurposing of existing buildings, Valeryan Korol specified. It is planned that the boarding houses will offer improved living conditions, with residents being cared for, including under individual programmes, taking into account the needs of each person. The Deputy Minister did not rule out the possibility of establishing similar institutions using funds from private investors. Valeryan Korol noted that an analysis of trends concerning the population aged 60 and over shows that the number of elderly people in the republic is increasing and that population ageing is occurring more intensively. The number of lonely people or those living separately from children and relatives over the working age is also increasing rapidly. Currently, about 2.1 million elderly people (21.4% of the country's total population) live in the republic. According to forecasts, by 2015 their number will increase to 24%. "Therefore, one of the manifestations of the state's care for elderly citizens is the functioning of stationary social service institutions in the country intended for elderly and disabled people to live in," the Deputy Minister emphasised. There are 74 boarding houses for the elderly and disabled operating in the republic, accommodating 17.3 thousand people, including 20 such institutions for the elderly and disabled, the Republican Boarding House for War and Labour Veterans with 180 places, 44 psycho-neurological institutions, and 9 for children with disabilities and psycho-physical development disorders.

A system of medical and social assistance has been established to serve this category of the population in residential institutions. The material and technical base is constantly being strengthened, significant work is being carried out to improve medical, domestic, and cultural services, and conditions are being created for recreation, feasible work, and health improvement. However, the need for residential social services remains. The most pressing problem, according to the representative of the department, is the need for social services for people with psychophysical developmental disabilities who pose a danger to living in families. To address the existing problems, Resolution of the Council of Ministers No. 1229 of September 28, 2007, approved the Program for the Development and Optimization of the Network of Social Service Institutions until 2011, with Br171.1 billion allocated for the implementation of its measures, including Br139.9 billion for residential institutions. Since the start of the program's implementation, 1178 places have been created, the waiting list for admission to boarding houses has been reduced from 1370 people to 671, and the living space areas in nine out of 17 residential institutions (53%) have been brought into compliance with established sanitary standards (7 sq. m per person). Despite the work carried out, the main tasks (eliminating the waiting list for admission to residential institutions and bringing the sleeping area space into compliance with established standards) remain unresolved. To address these and other social service development tasks, the Comprehensive Program for the Development of Social Services for 2011-2015 has been approved, explained Valeryan Korol. The total funding for the program is over Br291 billion. During this period, it is planned to eliminate the waiting list for admission to boarding houses, bring the living space areas into compliance with established sanitary standards, and strengthen the material and technical base of the institutions. -0-

BELTA